‘Dregr él yfir ógnar ljóma;
gerir drjúgan dyn dýrra malma.
Gnýr es á glæstum Gǫndlar himni
ok í hǫrðum hlam Hlakkar tjǫldum.
Erut skjólsamar Skǫglar kápur;
hrýtr hagl boga hlíf í gegnum.
‘Él ljóma ógnar dregr yfir; gerir drjúgan dyn dýrra malma. Gnýr es á glæstum himni Gǫndlar ok hlam í hǫrðum tjǫldum Hlakkar. Kápur Skǫglar erut skjólsamar; hagl boga hrýtr í gegnum hlíf.
‘A blizzard of the light of terror [SWORD > BATTLE] is blowing; it causes a mighty din of precious weapons. There is a clashing on the shining heaven of Gǫndul <valkyrie> [SHIELD] and a thudding against the tough awnings of Hlǫkk <valkyrie> [SHIELDS]. The capes of Skǫgul <valkyrie> [MAIL-SHIRTS] are not protective; the hail of bows [ARROWS] pierces through armour.
[12] hlíf í: ‘hlift’ refreshed from ‘hlif i’ Hb
[12] hlíf í gegnum ‘through armour’: The original reading of Hb, apparently hlíf í, is here assumed to be correct, following Merl 2012. The use of the sg. noun to denote armour in general is similar to sg. himni in the shield-kenning in l. 6. Previous eds, following Bret 1848-9, unnecessarily generate a pl. noun by emending to hlífar ‘armour’ (lit. ‘items of armour’), where hlífar would be acc. pl. The emendation of ms. ‘gegnari’ to gegnum was made by Bret 1848-9 and has been adopted by all subsequent eds.