Monday, February 26, 2007

Poetry!

So I was thinking. Why don't I put up one of those Tolkien-poems I've written. Not the most original of ideas I've had, I'll admit.

And so I am putting it up. Written in the back of an Aerospace-101 class, the only piece of third-person poetry I have ever written. (Whoa. That makes it sound as if I've written a lot of poems. Surely people know better.)

Anyhou, here it goes. It's been more than two years, and I still haven't been able to come up with a title. Good, huh?

Mithrandir

In ships they came,
From yonder silver shores;
Soon after the shadows fell,
On woods of green and so much more.

In Moria, in Khazad-dûm,
A shadow's formed in the once clean dark;
Where Durin once had met his doom,
He may not come back again.

In Rhôvanion, in the Greenwood Great,
Where elves linger since age unknown;
A darkness fell over the land,
And fell things came under Oak and Beech.

In the east that was wild, bereft of lords,
The old that was feared had now come back;
Dread was great in these men of night,
For long had they under evil dwelt.


The blessed ones came in numbers five,
Pale and cloaked, hooded and staffed;
Thus they came to the Gulf of Lune,
Where Círdan hailed them from afar.

In front of all was one in White,
A light there was seen in his eyes,
And a might there was seen in his voice;
Leader he was of all the five.

And in his trail came a figure in Brown,
Following who were the twain in Blue;
Lost now they are to the western cause,
Bereft of purpose, roaming the wild.

The last seemed like an old man in Grey,
Seemed less in might than the other four.
But a fire nevertheless was in his eyes,
And a staff much gnarled was in his hands.


They were sent by the lords of the west,
As messengers to the lands in the east;
To form an order, great in might,
To check the growth of this Shadow from the past.

In this they failed, all but one:
The twain in Blue were lost in the east,
The one in Brown took off with Bird and Beast.
The leader in White, the west he betrayed.

Yet one remained, faithful till last.
Webs he wove, subtle their strands.
Prime was he, in cleansing the land,
In destroying the Shadow, Sauron returned.

Mithrandir, O Pilgrim Grey!
He assumed the Mantle of White.
The White he pitted, against the dark:
The White burned the hotter, down fell the Black.

-Pavan Srinath

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

great poem.. only I didn't get it. But it was good. I probably didn't get it cuz I don't like LOTR...:P

Unknown said...

You probably didn't get it 'cos you haven't read the LoTR. :P

Anonymous said...

Lifeless body, slouching dead
Lecherous abcess, where you once had a head

Unknown said...

Aye, now I haven't the head to write something like this.

MM said...

Put something new up here already!
I'm tired of coming here and seeing the same thing over and over. :P

MM said...

Nice specialities.
:D

Anonymous said...

and I don't want to read LoTR because then I'll start hating HP, and that's not good. there's many similarities between LoTR and HP, you know. You need to blog some more.. catch ya later!

La said...

Lovely! I like it very much. :)

My favourite lines are:

"In Rhôvanion, in the Greenwood Great,
Where elves linger since age unknown;
A darkness fell over the land,
And fell things came under Oak and Beech."

"The blessed ones came in numbers five,
Pale and cloaked, hooded and staffed;
Thus they came to the Gulf of Lune,
Where Círdan hailed them from afar."

Cirdan amazes me! To think he's been there since the beginning of elves!

Unknown said...

Thanks! :)
Cirdan has a beard as well! Not sure if he is one of the firstborn though.

One source says that not even Finwe, Elwe and Ingwe were really firstborn, some different names are used for the firstborn leaders. Dunno.

La said...

Well, according to the Sil he is. I remember being very shocked, so I'm quite sure it says so. A beard? :) I never imagined him that way... He always looked tall and fair and wrinkly to me. But a beard seems to suit him as well. God! I barely remember anything! I feel quite useless...

Unknown said...

Silma is not canon, you know. I think there's a detailed thing in #12 The Peoples of Middle Earth which talks about the Awakening. Apparently Ingwe, Elwe and Finwe were no more than leaders of the Eldar... those who were ready to depart with Orome.

And yes, Cirdan has a beard! That I am very certain of. Don't think he has one in the movie though.

La said...

He's in the movie?? *blushes*

Sigh... I do not have the People's of Middle Earth. My collection is still incredibly incomplete.

So they were around for a couple of generations? That's nice... it still seems incredible that they can actually live for that long. Cirdan and Galadriel and Celeborn. Whether they were first and second generation or not it's still a very very long time.

What I really liked is the origin of the word "El" I like it that they looked at the stars and exclaimed and that just became the name for them.... "El", that is the word?... *thinks*... yes it is, Elbereth.

and Ainulindale... that is just beautiful.

How is the Children of Hurin? Is it different from whats in the Sil and The UT? I really like that story.

Unknown said...

I think he's in the movie... I think he's one of the elves accepting the rings (wrong as that may be) and he's also there at the havens when everyone's ready to be off.

I don't have Peoples either, but I think I had got my hands on some ebooks once.

Elbereth is Varda, meaning Queen of stars or something like that.

Well, Children of Hurin is pretty similar to what is there in the UT, except that it is expanded by small bits in numerous places. But the artwork makes it worth buying though! Personally, I like Tuor's story far better than Beren's and Beren's far better than Turin's... I like Greek myth, but did not like the Greek nature of this story.

La said...

I like Turin's the best, although it surprises me that I do. It's all so tragic. That Turin's sister Lalaith died hit me pretty hard. I can't believe I actually like something that sorrowful.

Tuor's story is so much more fantastic. I like that second.

It's seems criminal to like anything more than Beren and Luthien. I feel a little guilty everytime I think of how I like the other story better. Do you feel the same way?

I'd love to buy the book! But Tolkien books are so expensive! :P
My collecton is growing very slowly. I only have 1,2,5 and 7 of the history of middle earth and the sil and UT and the hobbit and lotr. And I havent even read the history books yet, except for return of the shadow, whoch was very informative. Funny, how Aragorn was Gandlaf's horse at one point...

Unknown said...

No, I have no qualms about preferring Tuor's story to Beren's. :)

I have books 1,5 and 10. 5 (The lost road) and 10 (Morgoth's Ring) are excellent... contain stuff not in any of the major works. I have read 2,4 and some of 12, I think.

If you have 5, do read it! It's really good - an unfinished story dealing with elf-friends and time travel which was a great read.

La said...

:D really? First LOTR and then that, then. I have to read LOTR because MM wants to read it. She's five chapters behind, and calls me a mean thing because I can't slow down. :| Slow down after they've gotten to Bree? Really?? I told her she'd better catch up soon. Ah! I'm going to read Lost Roads... :)

Unknown said...

The Lost Road. Not Lost Roads... :P

La said...

ah yes. *blushes*