Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our poetry feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. So come and join us by the hearth, and enjoy!
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Andreth’s Lament
by Caroline Flynn
The trees are bare, the wind is chill
But I remember the spring upon Dorthonion’s hill.
My hair is grey, my eyes grow dim
Yet they brighten when I recall him.
But between us a wide gulf spanned
Unbridgeable by any earthly hand.
I looked upon his flame, bright as the midnight star –
A light I could only behold from afar.
For he was a child of the earth’s morn:
I, mortal man’s daughter born.
He, an Elda, for whom the ages flow by,
I, of the Edain, doomed to age and die.
Yet our hands touched in the night,
And I felt his flame, sharp and bright
That burned in his eyes, touched his golden hair
And touched the heart of a maid, young and fair.
Joy for a short time, then long sorrow
And the dawn of our love had no morrow.
Did I alone love in those blissful days?
For in the end, you turned away.
On a grey morning you set forth
Answering the war-horns of the North.
Was it mist upon your face, or tears,
As you left me behind to fading years?
Youth’s years may indeed have been few,
But all I would have given to stand beside you!
Did you spurn the love I thought we had before?
I never asked, I saw you never more.
But in the regret, I found a friend,
As your brother sought the hurt to mend.
And he said that your love had been great,
And only unwillingly did you separate our fates.
But as we sat and by the fire spoke,
My hurt was healed, hope awoke.
I understood that you were not free,
But that you loved me as I loved thee.
In fire you fell, named the Sharp-flame.
But my memories shall no longer be regret and blame.
O irony! That I, the fading mortal
Shall outlive thy years immortal.
Farewell, my beloved! If beyond death’s rift –
Death, in hope Iluvatar’s gift –
Await me, remember me, beyond the night
Where shines the Everlasting Light.
~~ * ~~
Behold the Orc!
By Jennifer Russell
Behold the Orc, for such are we,
Spawned by fell necromancy
From steaming stinking depths we crawl
A curse on our heads and siblings all,
When we emerge from pits of hell
We blindly follow, swarm pell-mell
By Elven folk and men reviled
No more no less an evil child
With blackest thoughts and what ere’ defiled
Scorned and hated
Yet we were created..
Is it not said that from the Elves,
We were but moulded from themselves?
Those perfect beings so fair so wise
From them, in twisted aspect, guise?
Are we but YOU in fell disguise?
Ah think before you scorn and sneer
It is not us the Orc’s you fear..
Against your so called light you need…
Our darkness and our foulest deed!
~~*~~
