Yggs drósar rýfr eisa
ǫld móðsefa tjǫld;
glóð støkkr í hof Hlakkar
hugtúns firum brún.
Geðveggjar svífr glugga
glæs dynbrími hræs;
hvattr es hyrr at slétta
hjaldrs gnapturna aldrs.
Eisa drósar Yggs rýfr tjǫld móðsefa ǫld; brún glóð Hlakkar støkkr í hof hugtúns firum. Svífr dynbrími hræs glugga glæs geðveggjar; hyrr hjaldrs es hvattr at slétta gnapturna aldrs.
The fire of Yggr’s <= Óðinn’s> woman [VALKYRIE > SWORD] rips the tents of the mind [CHESTS] of people; the burnished ember of Hlǫkk <valkyrie> [SWORD] leaps into the temples of the mind-meadow [BREAST > HEADS] of men. The crashing flame of carrion [SWORD] flashes through the windows of the clear mind-wall [BREAST > WOUNDS]; the fire of battle [SWORD] is whetted to level jutting towers of life [HEADS].
[3, 4] hof hugtúns ‘the temples of the mind-meadow [BREAST > HEADS]’: This kenning has been taken by earlier eds to mean ‘chests’ (see LP: hugtún). However, hugtún in itself means ‘breast’ (see LP: hugtún and GSúrs Lv 9/4V (Gísl 12)), and its hof ‘temple’ must be the building that is erected on top of it, i.e. ‘head’ or ‘heads’ (hof is n. acc. sg./pl.). The W, U variant haf would yield a kenning haf hugtúns ‘ocean of the breast’, which is not immediately clear, but might possibly be a kenning for ‘blood’.