EN (English)Futhorc
Æsc is the ash, and the Old English stanza is entirely about position: exceedingly tall, firm on its base, holding its place rightly though many men attack it. The same word means a spear, which is where the attackers come from. Today your job is most likely not to move. Something you have already decided is being contested from more than one direction, and the height that makes you conspicuous is part of why it is being contested. The poem promises nothing about winning. It says the ash holds its place, which is a claim about conduct and not about the outcome.
