Hefka opt — enn ævi
ák fljóðs lofa góða —
ennileiptr af unnar
eldspǫng degi lǫngum.
Hefka opt ennileiptr af unnar eldspǫng lǫngum degi; enn ák lofa góða ævi fljóðs.
I do not often raise [my] forehead lightning [EYE] from the shard of the fire of the wave [(lit. ‘the fire-shard of the wave’) GOLD > WOMAN] the live-long day; yet I must praise the good life of the woman.
[1] enn ‘yet’: Finnur Jónsson understands W’s ‘enn’ as = en ‘but, and’. This edn, with Kock (Skald), understands an intercalary clause which is contrastive in sense from that of the main statement of the helmingr; the poet cannot keep his eyes off the woman, yet he acknowledges that she leads a good life, i.e. she is not being sexually provocative but cannot avoid attracting men’s attention because she is so beautiful.