Ekki hefk með flimtun farit;
fullvel ættak til þess varit;
yrkja kann ek vánu verr;
vita þykkisk þat maðrinn hverr.
Stolit væri mér ekki ór ætt,
jafnan þótt ek kvæða slétt;
róa verðr fyrst á it næsta nes;
nǫkkut ættak kyn til þess.
Hefk ekki farit með flimtun; fullvel ættak varit til þess; kann ek yrkja vánu verr; hverr maðrinn þykkisk vita þat. Ekki væri stolit mér ór ætt, þótt ek kvæða jafnan slétt; verðr fyrst róa á it næsta nes; ættak nǫkkut kyn til þess.
I have not gone in for lampoons; full well would I have had excuse for that; I can compose more rudely than you’d expect; every man thinks he knows it. Nothing would be stolen from my patrimony, even if I should always recite smoothly; one has to row first toward the nearest headland; I would have some pedigree for that.
[6] slétt (adv.) ‘smoothly’: Cf. sléttr adj. ‘smooth, even’. Used with reference to poetic art in Anon Leið 3/2VII, 25/3VII, ESk Geisl 50/3VII, Anon Gyð 1/4VII, Anon Lil 3/4VII and Hst Rst 1/1I. Kock (Skald), following Jón Þorkelsson (Möbius 1874, 615), emends to slætt ‘blunt, obtuse, without point’ in order to improve the rhyme: cf. the paired ætt ‘family’: óslætt ‘un-obtuse, able’ in RvHbreiðm Hl 78/8.