Disclaimer: I don't own The Lord of the Rings. I don't intend to profit from it.
Day 12 of my fic-a-day New Year's project. See my profile for fandoms/details if interested.
We keep the faith
In little cottages on mountaintops
Set apart from the kingdoms that we serve.
We look down from lonely heights
On Rohan's plains and Gondor's glories.
We watch the people pass below
Specks small with distance
But precious to us.
No lore-master sings a lay of the keepers of the beacons
Of how we wait through long years, ever watchful.
But we are proud to serve,
Sensible of the honor it is to be the keepers of these flames.
Our fires are the first warning of danger
Swift as an arrow in the night
Or the last hope for deliverance.
We bear the messages of kings.
"Keep faith, Horselords," our fire cries,
"Now is our hour of need!"
A lifespan passes before a message burns again:
"Men of the Citadel, our brothers from days long past
Be our brothers still!"
We are links, each family on its mountaintop
A burning chain spanning time and distance.
Through us flows ancient loyalty to ancient love.
Our fires proclaim
The trust that turns the darkest tides
The brotherhood the Shadow cannot crush.
Until the time that we are needed
We keep the faith
We await the day the darkness comes once more
and good men unite
And the beacons burn again.
You can just barely see them in the films, and I still remember watching RotK in the theater and being suddenly struck by the idea of the beacon-keepers. A decade later, I still think they're the coolest throwaway characters in the series.
