west of Annan, near the southern coast of Dumfriesshire, and near the
English border. On each of its four faces it bears inscriptions; on
two opposite faces in Latin, and on the other two in runic characters.
Each of the latter pair contains a few lines of Northern poetry,
selected from a poem (doubtless by the poet Cynewulf) which is
preserved in full in a much later Southern (or Wessex) copy in a MS.
at Vercelli in Piedmont (Italy). On the side which Professor Stephens
calls _the front_ of the cross, the runic inscriptions give us two
quotations, both imperfect at the end; and the same is true of the
opposite side or _back_. The MS. helps us to restore letters that are
missing or broken, and in this way we can be tolerably sure of the
correct readings.

The two quotations in front are as follows: it will be seen that the
cross itself is supposed to be the speaker.

1. [on]geredæ hinæ god almechttig
tha he walde on galgu gistiga,
modig fore allæ men; buga [ic ni darstæ.]

2. [ahof] ic riicnæ kyningc,
heafunæs hlafard; hælda ic ni darstæ.
bismæradu ungket men ba æt-gadre.
ic wæs mith blodæ bistemid bigoten of [his sidan.]

The two quotations at the back are these:

3. Crist wæs on rodi;
hwethræ ther fusæ fearran cwomu
æththilæ til anum; ic thæt al biheald.