Henry Adams Bellows · stanza 79
1923Certain is that which is sought from runes,That the gods so great have made,And the Master-Poet painted;. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . of the race of gods:Silence is safest and best.3 translations are aligned to this passage.
Certain is that which is sought from runes,That the gods so great have made,And the Master-Poet painted;. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . of the race of gods:Silence is safest and best.Then ‘tis made manifest,if of runes thou questionest him,those to the high ones known,which the great powers invented,and the great talker painted,that he had best hold silence.All will prove true that thou askest of runes—those that are come from the gods,which the high Powers wrought, and which Odin painted:then silence is surely best.Maxims for All Men.Hávamál, translated by Henry Adams Bellows, in The Poetic Edda (1923). Public-domain transcription sourced from Project Gutenberg ebook 73533.
It is time to chant from the chanter’s stool; By the wells of Urth I was, I saw and was silent, I saw and thought, And heard the speech of…
Read passage →I rede thee, Loddfafnir! and hear thou my rede,— Profit thou hast if thou hearest, Great thy gain if thou learnest: When ale thou drinkest…
Read passage →Runes shalt thou find, and fateful signs, That the king of singers colored, And the mighty gods have made; Full strong the signs, full migh…
Read passage →A twelfth I know, if high on a tree I see a hanged man swing; So do I write and color the runes That forth he fares, And to me talks.
Read passage →Only you can see these notes.
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