On Valinor's white shores I often roam
Beside the sea, to feel the flying spray.
Remembering the place I once called home
But not today – oh Valar, not today.
There now I stand, my heart benumbed by grief
While breezes soft caress my lowered head.
A letter in my hand, so harsh and brief:
My daughter's soul to Mandos' hall has fled.
No more to wander 'neath the fading trees
No more to dance in morning's golden light.
Ai Elbereth, what wicked hands are these
That would extinguish Evenstar so bright?
Unheeded pass the cries of gull and dove
Unnoticed sings the running brook so clear.
For stolen away is one that I most love
My Arwen, daughter whom I held so dear.
As shadows swiftly steal along the shore
And sunset turns the sea to crimson flame
I know I'll see my daughter nevermore
So sinking to my knees, I call her name.
As if my anguished cry would bring her back
As if thatgrave would open just for me.
I kneel and weep, the sky above so black
With not a moon or star that I can see.
A mortal man, how now I wish I were!
For therein does my only solace lie.
My tortured soul could ever rest with her
And softly, sweetly then, so I would die.
My mind insists that it cannot be so;
No tomb would hold my bones in darkness deep.
And in my heart I slowly come to know
That naught could ready me for that cold sleep.
And if I died, would it be for the best?
For many whom I love still linger here.
And if I passed to Mandos' halls to rest
My kin would grieve, for I would not be near.
Ai, what a choice! To die or linger on;
The living and the dead vie for my heart.
From life or death must my full self be gone
For neither realm will take my soul in part.
