Ballad for the Fallen

by Le Chat Noir

Based on artistic licence that Voronwë and Ecthelion were close friends, this is a ballad ::points to very helpful title:: by Voronwë mourning Ecthelion's Death.

Author's note: This is for Mouse, who inspired me to it with her website on Ecthelion. Are you happy now Mouse? I who wanted to take a break from writing for a while… ::sigh:: Though I did have fun with the repetitions, or whatever. 'Tis a change from what I write usually… Mouse, I know this is not really *your* Ecthelion, but, what the Hell… I'm still dedicating this to you…

Voronwë's POV, remembering his friend.

I did not have a very exact idea of the form of a ballad when I wrote this (still not sure: 'ballad' or 'ballade'? Seems like they are two completely different things…) so I just went for the 'square' pattern: twelve times twelve verses of twelve syllables. Actually, that would be 'cube'?

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters and settings mentioned. They belong to the Great Master J.J.R.Tolkien, whom I truly respect.

Ballad for the Fallen

By Le Chat Noir

For the joy and laughter you to all hearts did bring,

This poem is for you, my friend who loved to sing:

~

On summer nights I was erstwhile loath to sleep

When every meadow every meadow called me for

A dance and a song a stroll and a laugh a sip

Of the sweet miruvor of the sweet miruvor

When outside in the breeze the moonlight softly fell

To embrace in her smile the land and the land

Somewhere far on a hill rang a forgotten bell

Somewhere far a wave washed a beach of forlorn sand

And there while I stood in the frame of my door

Drinking in drinking in the fragrance of the night

I could only walk out to walk stray on the moor

Lying down in the grass while my dreams took flight

'Twas not so long ago 'tis not so far away

When the bells tinkled gay in the tower of glass

When songbirds sang their songs in the soft air of May

When the years and the years there never came to pass

What wonders there awaited the traveller's eye

In the City of gold in the City of gold

With seven towers high and eagles in the sky

The curtain of sunset there downed hundredfold

Of name Odolindë –the Water on the Rock-

There if you listened well and if you listened past

And the songs of the birds and the songs of the bells-

Hark! The song of fountains with the other songs mells!

The Fountains of my home –delight all yet unheard

Nor seen- by them I sat all day all day I could;

Listening to their splinters of laughter and shard

Of babble; barely sprung from their exquisite mould

Nearby always there piped alone a cheerful flute

And the flutist he sat on the thin stony rim

I watched you I watched you and when the song went mute

It was for you laughed; and your laugh was a sunbeam

I remember always you wore a white tunic

Your hair was dark; a silver circlet crowned your brow

And you laughed; oh you laughed; your laugh was clear and meek;

Ecthelion, Ecthelion, my friend, where are you now?

Ah, pray they might be wrong, but 'tis told but 'tis told,

That you fell at last smitten in the King's square

That your shield was lost, but that you were so bold

As to fight still as to fight still and to fall there

You were two left alone near the fountains you loved

The fountains, the fountains! All of them were smoking

All of them except one, my friend, the one you loved

And near her you came back when you heard her calling

Ah, throughout the slaughter and the cries of the dead

Behind the crazed clashing of steel against steel

Because you heard her laugh lone amidst the bloodshed

You had to go, my friend, because you loved her still!

Ecthelion, Ecthelion, tell me it is not true!

My friend my dearest friend tell me I'm not alone

Tell me you did not fall with the enemy you slew!

Or at least that somewhere I can still find your bones-

But 'tis told but 'tis told that your arm was broken

And your sword-blade shattered; the Mortal in a swoon

Laid there still and you stood, alone and unshaken

The Balrog raised its arm its whip came down and soon

You would have been engulfed and yet you did not move!

Oh Ecthelion my friend you what madness then seized

To have you rush forwards; I would not call that brave

But mad my friend but mad; your helmet in its breast!

What despair had you then at its mercy my Lord

I have heard your laughter oh so often my friend

Yet one thing I knew but one thing I guessed my Lord

Your fountain you stood by in the end till the end

In her you found your fate my Lord of the Fountain

Forwards the beast stumbled in agony's black jaw

But already my Lord the strength from you did drain

And forwards it did fall and backwards you did fall

In your fountain my Lord the one you loved so

And you sunk in her depths and you drowned in her depths

May she your body keep then my friend I loved so

May she your body keep in her unsullied depths!

Oh my friend I have held dear to my heart so dear

Why was I not by you that moment at your side

But what could I have done had I been with you there?

Yet what would I have done but die then at your side-

My name was the Faithful and yet it was not I

Who faithful stayed there to fall beside my friend

Who faithful stayed there for my City to die

With my City in my City beside my friend

If you would count the stars one by one in heaven

The number still would by no mean amount dear elf

To the tears I did shed when I knew you fallen

You I had loved most and you I will mourn most

So often I have sat on the stone fountain's rim

Listening to you play listening to you sing

So often have I thought the sunlight did look dim

Compared to the light of your fountain lustring

So often have I thought ill of the nightingales

When the mellow piping of your flute entrancing

The little children's feet from all over the dale

To come to you to come flying to you dancing

So often I have sat on the stone fountain's rim

Listening to you laugh listening when you laughed

Maddening it is now to remember the gleam

In your eyes; when you laughed when you laughed when you laughed

The children they all came to you running smiling

The children they all came -I was not the only

One to whom you were dear my friend you so loving-

To sing to laugh with you to dance with you lightly

And now you are fallen, my friend, fallen you are!

I cannot bear to think that your fountain is dried

I cannot bear to think that you're gone; gone too far

And that our paths won't meet until I too have died

You who died for us all for the lives of us all

What sad laugh would you laugh if you could see us now?

You who died for us all for the love of us all

Would you smile on us whose days you dearly bought?

I have seen you also when you strayed in your thought

And then the slender flute fell lamely still; silenced

And then the forlorn look that I saw was your lot

To have deep in your eyes; stayed even when you laughed

For me though hidden well; my friend, your great secret

Can you tell to a child, an innocent youngling?

What ancient remembrance in your heart had its set

That you would always laugh that you would always sing?

And no one ever saw, I think, apart from me

(And I was there a thief, you never knew I did)

The strange spark in your eyes that you hid so deeply

In the glee of your songs, the greatness of your deed?

But in your song Ecthelion the Fountain-lover

But in your song was there a dream I did not hear?

Could it be you so fair so high so loved singer

Laughing hid a sadness your heart alone did bear?

Ecthelion what was it that you piped your songs for?

I have heard you my friend and your heart was not there

When you played that music was your soul on a shore

On a far riverbank or in a wood once dear?

'Twas not so long ago 'tis not so far away

And the flutist he sat on the thin stony rim

Oh Ecthelion by which fountain do you now play

Now play so sweetly play the sad song of your dream?

~

When outside in the breeze the moonlight softly fell

To embrace in her smile the land and the land

Somewhere far on a hill rang a forgotten bell

Somewhere far a wave washed a beach of forlorn sand

And there while I stood in the frame of my door

Drinking in drinking in the fragrance of the night

I could only walk out to walk stray on the moor

Lying down in the grass while my dreams took flight

And the next morning fair when the white Sun breaking

Timidly timidly bathed the land with shy light

I felt upon my face the gentle rays meddling

With the tears I had shed during the dreary night-

~

Author's note: I know, Voronwë says 'my friend' a lot… Yes, he tends to repeat himself… The rhymes are not perfect, and it just doesn't rhyme in some spots, but I did my best… just, too lazy to think, you know…