steame bedrifenne: the phrase presents some difficulty semantically. The glossary gives the meanings of the verb which are found elsewhere. Possibly Dickens and Ross are right to compare the Old Norse "driffin bloði" "sprinkled with blood" to explain the apparent semantic shift of the verb here, but "stÚam" normally seems to refer to hot vapour (like breath) so that contextually the reference might be to the hot blood which gives off a vapour . The sense of the phrase, then, is not so much that the Cross stands soaked in blood/moisture as that it stands surrounded by the vapour rising from the hot blood with which it is soaked. "bedrifenne" is masc.acc.sg. of the past participle. It agrees with "me" 61b. Although "rod" is feminine, "gealga" is masculine and "trÚow" is neuter. The treatment of the Cross as the retainer of Christ (and the "lord" of the dreamer whom it addresses as "hæleþ min se leofa") would seem to create a naturally male personality.