~ By Courtesy of Others ~
Song of Praise to Odin
Although my bone-house was built
on a fragile foundation,
I got from the High One
a glorious compensation:
the bloody brew
which the mountain hid,
which dwarves made
and etins owned,until the Father of the Slain cunningly
won it for others.
Speech-runes roar
in the mead-vessel's depths;
mind-runes shine
on the horn's rim;
songs and tales told
with the Swedes' tongueresound again
with power through the world.
One seldom gets
a fairer gift
from the poets' friend,
from the lord of Valhalla.
I thank you, Odin,
for the comfort you gave!
© Ingeborg S. Nordén
(Translation from Swedish; find the original
on Ingeborg´s Norse Heathen Pages)Image: "Odin", Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-1898)
