Ótti, kunnuð elgjum hætta
œðiveðrs á skelfðan grœði,
fengins golls, eða fœðið ella
flestan aldr und drifnu tjaldi.
Glíkan berr þik hvǫssum hauki,
hollvinr minn, í lypting innan
— aldri skríðr und fylki fríðra
farligt eiki — Visundr snarla.
Ótti fengins golls, kunnuð hætta elgjum œðiveðrs á skelfðan grœði, eða fœðið ella flestan aldr und drifnu tjaldi. Visundr berr þik snarla glíkan hvǫssum hauki, hollvinr minn, innan í lypting; farligt eiki skríðr aldri und fríðra fylki.
Terror of seized gold [GENEROUS MAN], you know how to risk elks of the raging gale [SHIPS] on the piled-up swell, or else you pass the most part of your life under the spray-drenched awnings. Visundr (‘Bison’) carries you swiftly, like a keen hawk, my true friend, inside the after-deck; a goodly oaken ship will never glide beneath a finer prince.
[4] drifnu: ‘drifu’ Flat
[4] drifnu tjaldi ‘the spray-drenched awnings’: The same phrase, in the pl. drifin tjǫld, is found in Þhorn Harkv 5/8I (c. 900). The word tjald generally refers to a land-tent, or to awnings which protected seafarers and their cargo, especially in harbour. Jesch (2001a, 164-5) suggests that tjald here, as in Arn Þorfdr 19/6, could refer to a sail rather than awnings; she notes the use of sædrifinn ‘sea-drenched, foam-sprayed’ to describe a sail in Gísl Magnkv 14/7.