Syni Máríu svartir færa
seggir blandið gall með dreggjum;
fulla smán og flestar pínur
fundu þeir, en heimrinn stundi.
Fölnar skinn en fellr að enni;
fættuz orð en þurru mættir;
öndin leið af Jésúm píndum,
yfirvaldanda himins og landa.
Svartir seggir færa syni Máríu gall blandið með dreggjum; þeir fundu fulla smán og flestar pínur, en heimrinn stundi. Skinn fölnar en fellr að enni; orð fættuz en mættir þurru; öndin leið af píndum Jésúm, yfirvaldanda himins og landa.
Black men bring the son of Mary gall mixed with dregs; they worked utter debasement and very many torments, and the world groaned. The skin pales and grows slack at the forehead; his words became fewer and his powers diminished; the soul departed from the tortured Jesus, supreme ruler of heaven and lands [= God (= Christ)].
[1, 2] svartir seggir ‘black men’: Svartr has connotations of both black in appearance and morally darkened, but the primary sense seems to be the literal. The epithet here echoes the more common svartir djöflar ‘black devils’ (see HómNo, 35; Mar 1871, 1082; and Unger 1877, 571 [wrongly cited in Fritzner as 511]). Cf. dökkvir flokkar ‘swarthy flocks’ 84/5. Lucifer was often portrayed as having a black complexion (see Link 1995, 52-3; Russell 1981, 190-1; Russell 1984, 132-3).