'wa bið . . . leofes abidan' - The poem closes with a gnomic statement couched in formulaic syntax; compare the narrator's reflection in Beowulf (186-88), 'woe is to him who as a result of terrible malice must push his soul into fire's embrace' (wa bið þæm ðe sceal / þurh sliðne nið sawle bescufan / in fyres fæþm). Here, the statement that a parted lover must always feel the sorrow of longing applies both to the speaker and to her husband.