Disclaimer: Professor Tolkien made Arda.
Loss
When I was a child,
loss was a white feather,
weightless, soft as
snow:
me on the beach,
and mother beyond.
When night came,
it became a silver beam
from a distant star:
father
in the sky,
and me earth-bound.
Years later,
loss was just a bend
in the gently singing sea:
me on
this side,
and CelebrÃan beyond.
And then,
loss came with a kiss, and a flick
of Fate's slender
blade:
me in Arda,
and my Evenstar beyond.
After "Nostalgia", a short poem by Yu K'uang-chung (1928 - ). For more of Yu K'uang-chung's poetry in English translation, check out Anthology of Modern Chinese Poetry, edited by Michelle Yeh, and Frontier Taiwan, edited by Michelle Yeh and N. G. D. Malmqvist.