SPORT WITH MAIDENS AT DUSK
She joined the crowd as I caught Hrótha
and swept his foot, felling the champion
to the ground below. Her locks shining
seemed like gold to me, gleaming brighter
than the finest of rings my reeve offered,
and I desired her love. I relished my wins
in bouts of wrestling, for I had brought many
contenders to the ground, grappling players
and displaying my skill; I scored victories
by the dozen that day. But deep in my heart
I craved another: to court that girl
with golden locks and grip her as my wife.
I would make her mine in the marriage bed,
promising things in poetry of love:
my heart I would pledge, pure devotion
and deep loyalty, to lie with her alone—
For it is said that men may win a pretty maiden’s love
in many different ways, but in the company of drunken knights
I heard that falsehood oft wins many a woman’s heart.
