DISCLAIMER:  All characters, places, and the language of Quenya belong to Tolkien.  Mutilations of Quenya that might be present in the poem are mine, and may the Valar forgive me.

***

I Will Never Forget Thee, Gondolin.

Valië Vairë inírië liar martommion

Námmë parc' cuilëvalta ve i Aldu.

Sí i nárë hendimmëllo avánië

I lámar ómammion lantar cemenenna

Eress' métimar lussar i rámanen vílëo

Liltar i nísimar lotessen tuilëva.

Ustan' ar rácina ná vanima márinyá.

Ú-cenuva fánar mindoniryar anaróressë

Ú-cenuva fánar mindoniryar andúnessë

Ú-cenuva meldonyar ananta istan:

Emmë nyénuvar lin, Ondolindë,

Mandos ringessë ar nu anarya Hópar

Ú-hehtuvammë lin, Ondolindë.

Soft Elven voice was mixing with the murmur of the waves.  Yes, the sun shined bright over the warm Havens of Sirion, but it couldn't warm those whose souls longed for the cold, crystal-clear air of Gondolin.  Almost seventeen years have passed since it was destroyed by flames, yet still every day her eyes turned north, towards her former home.

"Ai!  Ú-hehtuvammë lin, Ondolindë…" whispered the golden-haired woman for the last time, as her eyes turned to the West beyond the sea.  Gone was the city she grew up in.  Gone were her childhood friends.  Gone was her father, finally joining her mother in the Halls of Waiting, after five sun-ages apart.  Gone was part of her heart, forever buried in the rocky soil of the Land of Singing Stone.  

"Nana!  Nana!"

She turns her head towards golden-haired young man runs to her and hugs her.  He notices sadness in her eyes and bows his head for a moment.  However, he is too happy to let this familiar sadness distract him.

"Nana, Elwing said she will marry me!"

Idril is happy for her only son, but sadness in her heart is too deep.  Neither Eärendil's smile, nor Tuor's kisses can dismiss it. She has lost everything she has loved in Middle-earth, and she is afraid she will loose them too.  Her heart aches for the home she left centuries ago as a child, in the blessed land that knew no pain. 

One comforting thought rises through the pain.  'Now my little boy doesn't need me anymore.  I am free to follow my heart.'

***

Four months later, Idril Celebrindal and Tuor departed the shores of Middle-earth forever.  Idril's last word was not the name of her son, for she felt she will meet him yet in the future.  It was the name of that she knew she lost forever.  Ondolindë.

***

Translation of the poem:

Valie Vaire has torn the threads of our lives

We are dry of life now, like the Two Trees.

Now the fire has disappeared from our eyes

Echoes of our voices fell into the [bloodied] earth.

Only the last whispers in the gentle breeze

Dance on the fragrant [late] spring flowers.

Burned and destroyed is my beautiful home.

I will never see its white towers in the sunrise.

I will never see its white towers in the sunset.

I will never see my friends, an yet I know:

We will weep for thee, Gondolin,

In the cold Halls of Mandos and in sunny Havens.

We will not forget thee, Gondolin.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

1) Chronology "C" from The War of The Jewels was used in this fic, as the most complete.  It is as follows:

505 Eärendil was born

512 Gondolin was destroyed

527 Eärendil weds Elwing, Idril and Tuor depart over the Sea.

2)  It is slightly AU in what in Tolkien's own works "Unquiet of Ulmo" came upon Tuor, and they left Middle-earth, and I decided to make it so that Idril was the one wishing to leave.  Also, I don't know if I made Idril less motherly than Tolkien intended. 

3)  The poem is in part inspired by a poem of Hatul's "Lírë Macalaurëo" which is the answer to Galadriel's "Namarië".  The image of Valië Vairë was too powerful, and this fic started from that image.