Veit mér líkn, er læknar
ljóna kind frá blindi
hyggju túns ok hreinsar,
heims prýði, kyn lýða.
Ert fyr hvers manns hjarta
hreins við öllum meinum
hæstr ok harðri freistni
hlífiskjöldr í lífi.
Heims prýði, veit mér líkn, er læknar ljóna kind frá blindi hyggju túns ok hreinsar kyn lýða. Ert hæstr hlífiskjöldr fyr hjarta hvers hreins manns við öllum meinum ok harðri freistni í lífi.
World’s adornment [CROSS], grant me mercy, you who heal men’s offspring from blindness of thought’s enclosure [BREAST] and purify the race of men. You are the highest protective-shield before the heart of each pure man against all injuries and hard temptation in life.
[4] heims prýði ‘world’s adornment’: Cf. Alcuin’s famous acrostic hymn Crux decus est mundi ‘The Cross is the adornment of the world’ (Szövérffy 1976, 25; Dümmler 1881, 224-5), and from a later hymn salve mundi gloria / ... dulce decus saeculi ‘hail, glory of the world, ... sweet adornment of the world’ (Mone 1853-5, I, 111). Mary is called heims prýði in Mdr 11/2.