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.
The Ride of Dernhelm
by: J Houdart
Across the sea of golden-grassed plain Sails Windfola, swift, bearing two without name In day yet darkened by menace unspoken Gentler lies are soon to be broken As on with the company, racing toward doom At the walls of yon city, be-circled with gloom Dernhelm the Silent keeps hidden his face But hides not his passion, his strength and fell grace.
To War! beats his heart, to Death! sings his sword But rides he in silence, without leave of his lord. Cloak-hidden, shadow-ridden he takes all care to be For the secret he keeps, his brothers must not see That secret he holds and another he bears Before him on Windfola: a small hobbit shares His duty and destiny, to great deeds they are called Upon Pelennor’s vast field before the prize thus high-walled.
For there in that doom a dark Power lay, waiting and coiled, whom no man can slay. How then can this man, fierce and strong though he be Strike true? End the terror? Make the walled city free?But that deed will soon come. Two wounds will be wrought One by hobbit, brave and true, a man and yet not And Dernhelm the Silent will give voice at last Striking true, Death banished back into the Past.
At great cost, that blow giv’n, yet hope will remain For the hero to sing and ride out free again But proud, hair unbound, laughter ringing and strong For the secret is done, surprise mingled with song As his helm is then moved, and his kinsmen find there True hero yet no brother: Eowyn the Fair.
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Untitled
by: A Plume Cox
Your shields break beneath our blade We invade your sacred home Prepare to be crushed by our one crusade As we move along and roam. You call this land the southlands Now hear our volcano roar In the end you will not stand In the new land Mordor. Here the orcs roam all free In the fiery dark land Any human, elf or dwarf who enters will have to flea Or be scorched by Sauron’s hand.
As you no doubt know, March 25th is Tolkien Reading Day – a tradition begun by The Tolkien Society in 2003. Not that we need any excuse to celebrate the works and worlds of the Professor! But on Reading Day – and the days around it – there are often special events. And this year is no exception!
You may recall that last year, composer and sound engineer Jordan Rannells (the creator of the Long-expected Soundscape: music and ambient sounds to create a world around you, as you read The Lord of the Rings) teamed up with ArdaCraft to bring us a live stream event, where parts of The Fellowship of the Ring were read over the corresponding chapters of the Soundscape. This year, Rannells is doing it again!
On Sunday 23rd March you can listen along to readings from The Return of the King, surrounded by ambient sound – immerse yourself in Middle-earth! Enjoy readings from folks such as artist Ted Nasmith, composer Stephen Gallagher, and TORn’s own Quickbeam and greendragon – plus a whole host of familiar faces and wonderful folks from the fandom.
The whole thing kicks off at 12pm EST on Sunday, and you can find it here. Set your calendar – get ready to spend the day in Middle-earth!
