[All]: These two lines must represent, from the evidence of alliteration and syntax, the first and final lines of a helmingr. They could form part of the introduction (upphaf) to an extended poem, explaining its purpose, in which case the pres. tense of the verb ráða (ræðk ‘I devise’) may be equivalent to future: ‘I will devise’ (cf. SnE 1998, II, 372). If, on the other hand, we read the pret. réðk with the other mss against R, the two lines could belong in a conclusion.