Stanza 72

Original Old Norse:	Auden & Taylor:	Bellows:	Bray:
Sonr er betri þótt sé síð of alinn eptir genginn guma sjaldan bautarsteinar standa brautu nær nema reisi niðr at nið	A son is a blessing, though born late To a father no longer alive: Stones would seldom stand by the highway If sons did not set them there.	A son is better, | though late he be born, And his father to death have fared; Memory-stones | seldom stand by the road Save when kinsman honors his kin.	Best have a son though he be late born and before him the father be dead: seldom are stones on the wayside raised save by kinsmen to kinsmen.
Chisholm:	Hollander:	Terry:	Thorpe:
Better to have a son, though born late after the father has passed away. Stones seldom stand by the roads unless raised by kin for kin.	To have a son is good, late-got though he be and borne when buried his father; stones see'st thou seldom set by the roadside But by kith raised over kin.	Though he be born when you are buried, it's better to have a son; you don't see many memorial stones except those set by kinsmen.	A son is better, even if born late, after his father’s departure. Gravestones seldom stand by the way-side unless raised by a kinsman to a kinsman.
A son is better than no son at all; while the preference for male offspring reflects the patriarchal culture, the concern is more with legacy of fame than with keeping a family line. As the famous lines coming soon (76-77) suggest, living on in memory and in memorial are the most important things. Like Beowulf’s Barrow at the end of that epic poem, the ‘gravestones’ would not be the modern headstones but the carefully constructed cairn. Heroes were not to be hidden in the ground but made part of the landscape.