One White Tree

by Hawki

Poem: Seven stars, seven stones, and one white tree. Or rather, no stars, one stone in the hands of a madman, and one withered tree that the Fountain Guard had to guard for purely ceremonial reasons. Such was what Gondor had become.

.

One White Tree

Guarding a dying, withered husk,

Day after each day.

A symbol of stagnation,

Of Gondor's decay.

...

I cannot speak, nor can I sing,

I just wear my cloak, bright white.

I'll do the same upon the 'morrow,

And perhaps the following the night.

...

What substance is there in this duty,

Just guarding a dead tree?

How could we have fallen so,

Descended from the kings of sea?

...

What has become of Gondor's pride,

Where is our sense of hope?

Why do we seem oblivious,

To our fall down stagnation's slope?

...

Yet still I remain silent,

With mask and embroidery.

Simply adding to the problem,

Guarding a dead tree.