Fornyrδislag

Better brave deeds than Valentine vows.
Caring cannot be shown by words.
Words would only weep with tears
when what is wanted is worth much gold.
Fair formula for wooing would be
a faithful heart forgiving frailty
yet seeking no reward for work
such paragon portrays perfection

This is a re-written poem in a complicated ancient Viking form which I first found in 2012 on Joseph Harker’s blog. Here’s part of his erudite explanation:
“ … they are more alliterative than rhyming: initial consonants of the words matter more than the ends of lines. Two terms you need to know are “lift” (a stressed syllable) and “caesura” (a syllable break common in these old forms that splits a line into half-lines)”. This time I have left out the ││ marks which denote the caesura