Great lord of the nine realms
Odinn pays his dues
Knowledge now gained
The secret runes now semblant
Charms of great power granting armament
His greatest gift to his children
The knowledge of writing bequeathed upon Midgard
Ascetic devotion to his sacrifice
Odinn all-father
Wrought with self dolor
Not in vein His valor petrified in time
With his spear he Bound himself to the tree
Nine days without nourishment the price of acumen
Plummeting from Yggdrasil he let a shout
Through descent Odinn risen in power
Odinn's fall
"I know that I hung on a windy tree
nine long nights,
wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin,
myself to myself,
on that tree of which no man knows
from where its roots run.
No bread did they give me nor a drink from a horn,
downwards I peered
I took up the runes, screaming I took them,
then I fell back from there."