Vandfœrra es várrar
varrbliks fyr Stað miklu
— þreyk of aldr — til eyjar
aurborðs, an vas forðum.
Nús fyr hǫfn, þás hafna
hlyn* sævar mák æva,
Gunnr hvítinga, grjóti
geirþorps boða orpit.
Es miklu vandfœrra aurborðs fyr Stað til várrar eyjar varrbliks, an vas forðum; þreyk of aldr. Nús grjóti orpit fyr hǫfn boða geirþorps, þás mák æva hafna hlyn* sævar, Gunnr hvítinga.
It is much harder for the plank [ship] to pass in front of Stad to our [my] island of the wake-glitter [GOLD > WOMAN] than it was formerly; I yearn through my lifetime. Now rock is dumped in front of the harbour against the messenger of the spear-settlement [SHIELD > WARRIOR = Óláfr], when I can never beach the maple of the sea [SHIP], Gunnr <valkyrie> of drinking-horns [WOMAN].
[2] Stað ‘Stad’: Presumably Stad, or Stadlandet, a headland in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, close to a notoriously dangerous passage for ships. The localisation of the girl in this story (Steinvǫr) is not entirely consistent. Anon Liðs 9/8, also preserved in the Styrmir extracts (Flat 1860-8, III, 238), places her to the north of Staðr when she is residing with her father or guardian, whereas Styrmir’s prose narrative has her moving to reside there after her marriage (ibid., 237). Taken in itself, the present stanza dwells on the separation of lovers without specifying the exact geography.