1.
Allfather acts,
elves discern,
Vanir know,
norns point the way.
Trolls nourish,
aeons give birth,
Thurses wait,
Valkyries yearn.2.
The Aesir suffered
grim forebodings,
Seers mistook
the fruit-maid's runes.
Urd's mead she guarded
but could not defend it
From the insistence
of the great host.3.
Hugin soars high
to seek her out.
The Aesir are anxious
if he delays;
To Longing-for-life
dreams become suffering;
Dim dreams
surfeit the dead.4.
Dwarfs grow numb;
their powers fall;
Worlds into Ginnung's
waning sink;
The Allwise
fells beings often,
And again reassembles
the fallen.5.
No longer stand fast
the earth or the sun;
The stream of destruction
stays no more aloft;
Hidden deep
in Mimer's well
Lies all wisdom.
Know you as yet or what?6.
Dwells in the dells
the knowing maiden,
Fallen from Yggdrasil down,
from the ash;
The elves
named her Idun;
she is the oldest
Of Ivalde's younger brood.7.
Unhappy she seemed
over this misfortune,
Lying captive
under the lofty tree.
She liked it not
with the daughter of Night,
Accustomed to having
worlds for her dwelling.8.
The victory gods saw
the sorrow of Nanna;
They sent her in Hel's house
a wolf-disguise;
She put it on
and changed disposition;
Confused with illusion,
altered appearance.9.
Odin selected
the watcher of Bafrast
To ask of the dead sun's
sorrowing widow
All that she knew
of the fate of the world.
Brage and Lopt
bore the testimony.10.
Incantations they chanted,
they rode on wolves,
The ruler and powers,
to the ends of the world.
Odin, listening
from Lidskjalf,
Lets them journey
far and wide.11.
Wise Heimdal asked
if the mead-provider
Knew of the origin,
age, and the end
Of the races of gods
and her companions,
Of heaven, the void,
and the earth.12.
Naught would she say,
not a word would she utter
In response to the askers,
nor discourse with them;
Her tears fell fast
from her brain's shields;
Her power was numbed,
exhausted, and dead.13.
Soon from the east,
out of icicle-waves,
Comes the thorn of sleep
to the frozen giant,
Whose minions are slain
in beautiful Midgard
Every night
at the midnight hour.14.
Then wanes the power.
Hands grow numb.
A swoon assails
the white sword-Ase;
Unconsciousness reigns
on the midnight breath;
Thought fails
in tired beings.15.
Filled with sorrow
Jorun appeared
Before the gods,
unable to speak;
The more they asked,
the less she said;
All their words
flowed in vain.16.
Foremost at the questing
was Heimdal, the watcher
Of the horn
of the father of hosts;
He brought with him Loki,
the one born of Nal,
While Brage,
the bard, stood guard.17.
The warriors of Odin
attained to the Winehall,
Brought to the place
by the sons of the past;
There entered Ygg's heroes
to salute the Aesir,
And share in the feasting
on mead.18.
They wished Hangatyr
health and contentment,
With well-being ever
to brew his ale;
The drinkers were blissful
to joy at the tankard,
Eager to feast
with the Ever-young.19.
Each benched by Odin,
the rulers together
Eat and are sated
with Sarimner;
With the ladle of Nikar
Skogul at the tables
Serves mead
in the horns of memory.20.
At the feast
much was asked
by the gods of Heimdal,
By the goddesses of Loki.
All day long
until darkness fell
They sought the seeress'
wisdom and prophecy.21.
Ill they thought
was resolved
This matter,
and little commendable.
Cunning was needed
to elicit
An answer from
the sly witch.22.
Darkening, Odin speaks.
All listen:
"Night shall be used
for renewal of counsel;
Each one who can
shall by the morrow
Find some solution
for the Aesir's weal."23.
At the mountains' rim
round the wintry earth
The offspring of Fenris,
exhausted, fell.
The gods left the feast,
saluting Ropt and Frigg,
at the departure
of the steed of night.24.
But the son of the Dawn
spurs on his charger,
Caparisoned gaily
in precious gems.
Over Manhome flows
radiance from the steed's mane;
He draws in the chariot
Dvalin's toy.25.
At the nourishing earth's
northern horse-door,
Neath the noble ash-tree's
farthest root,
Went to their lairs
hags and giants,
Spooks, and dwarfs,
and the black elves.26.
Up rose the gods.
Forth shone the sun.
Northward to Niflheim
night drew away;
Heimdal once more
sprang up upon Bafrast,
Mighty clarion-blower
on the mountains of heaven.