Wounded I hung on a wind-swept gallows For nights all of nine Pierced by a spear Odin Offered myself to myself Wisest know not From whence spring the roots
I pledged to Odin A hanged mans gift
Saw him hang nine days and nights Pain did blind his sacrifice More dead than alive Carve the runes the dead to speak Enlight the strong desert the weak The wyrd of the dead
Suffer A sacrifice so profound They gave no bread They gave no mead Peered down I grasped the runes screaming of need I took them From that tree I fell
I pledged to Odin A hanged mans gift
Saw him hang nine days and nights Pain did blind his sacrifice More dead than alive Carve the runes the dead to speak Enlight the strong desert the weak The wyrd of the dead