Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with The Lord of the Rings. Those things belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. I make no profit from this work. Please do not sue.
My eyes have been opened.
All that has passed before in my life is as nothing. No beauty I have seen can rival the soul-consuming radiance that stands before me now, like a star dropped from the heavens to walk upon the face of the earth, bestowing its grace, as near as breath, yet untouchable.
If I were to reach out my hand it would be burned by the sentient light that glows within her, white and shimmering. Yet I am drawn to her like a moth is drawn to firelight. Doom is written there. Doom, and unending fascination.
How can such beauty be real? No gem, however brightly faceted, can hope to capture the crystal blue of her eyes. No rose, the silken fullness of her lips. Her skin glows with the soft warmth of the moon on a summer night and I ache to lay my calloused fingers against the tender frailty that hides such terrible power hidden deep.
Never have I been so aware of my own flaws. I am small. I am grizzled. I am like a stone left too long in the riverbed, worn away to the harsh center. Never could such a one as she drop her gaze to meet my own hard eyes, grey as flint. I am beneath her notice.
But no! I am pierced through! Her eyes are like the quarrels of a mighty crossbow. They stab my weak flesh, making me tremble in awe and in fear. She can see straight into my soul! It is an exquisite torture… How I can bear the pain of her steel gaze? How will I survive when it is gone?
Yet now it passes. She has left me behind. Her face has turned, leaving me only the sight of her hair, a cascade of moonshine. My limbs tremble with reaction. A star has deigned to cast its transient eye upon me, and I still stand firm. I feel my pulse racing through my body, an urgent rhythm.
Does she know the power of her loveliness? Does she use it to entrap us all in her web of silken sorcery? I find that I do not care. I would willingly lay my body, yea, my very life, in her sylph-like hands. Any thing she might wish of me is hers without question. If this be witchery, I am powerless against it.
And now she is passing… We are once again alone, a company of men, transformed. I see in the eyes of my companions that they have also been caught. I do not begrudge my entrapment. I am the willing servant of a living star, the very light of Elbereth.
I turn and follow my fellows, but my heart is left behind. I will walk the dire paths which stretch before me, but my heart will dwell ever in the fragrant realm of Lothlorien. It will dwell with her.