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A modern edition of The Lay of Leithian.
A king there was in days of old: | |
ere Men yet walked upon the mould | |
his power was reared in caverns' shade, | |
his hand was over glen and glade. |
Far in the Northern hills of stone | |
in caverns black there was a throne | |
by flame encircled; there the smoke | |
in coiling columns rose to choke |
Dark from the North now blew the cloud; | |
the winds of autumn cold and loud | |
hissed in the heather; sad and grey | |
Aeluin's mournful water lay. |
There long ago in Elder-days | |
ere voice was heard or trod were ways, | |
the haunt of silent shadows stood | |
in starlit dusk, Nan Elmoth wood. |
He lay upon the leafy mould, | |
his head upon earth's bosom cold, | |
adrift in mingled grief and bliss, | |
enchanted by an elvish kiss, |
So days drew on from that mournful day; | |
the curse of silence no more lay | |
on Doriath, though Daeron's flute | |
and Lúthien's singing both were mute. |
When Morgoth in that day of doom | |
had slain the Trees and filled with gloom | |
the shining land of Valinor, | |
there Fëanor and his sons then swore |
Thus twelve alone there ventured forth | |
from Nargothrond, and to the North | |
they turned their silent secret way, | |
and vanished in the fading day. |
Hounds there were in Valinor | |
with silver collars. Hart and boar, | |
the fox and hare and nimble roe | |
there in the forests green did go. |
In Wizard's Isle still lay, forgot, | |
enmeshed and tortured in that grot | |
cold, evil, doorless, without light, | |
and blank-eyed stared at endless night |
Songs have recalled, by harpers sung | |
long years ago in elven tongue, | |
how Lúthien and Beren strayed | |
in Sirion's vale; and many a glade |
Once wide and smooth a plain was spread, | |
where King Fingolfin proudly led | |
his silver armies on the green, | |
his horses white, his lances keen; |
In that vast shadow once of yore | |
Fingolfin stood: his shield he bore | |
with filed of heaven's blue and star | |
of crystal shining pale afar. |
Into the vast and echoing gloom | |
more dread than many-tunnelled tomb | |
in labyrinthine pyramid | |
where everlasting death is hid, |
Up through the dark and echoing gloom | |
as ghosts from many-tunnelled tomb, | |
up from the mountains' roots profound | |
and the vast menace underground, |