*Break, break, break' was written by Lord Alfred Tennyson in 1842. I
changed only the first and second lines of the third verse from
"And the stately ships go on,
To their haven under the hill"
to make it flow better.
"Break, break, break
On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
O, well for the fisherman's boy
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O, well for the sailor lad,
that he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships went on
To their haven beyond the hills
But O for the touch of a vanished hand
And the sound of a voice that is still!
Break, break, break
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me *."
So sang Arwen Undomiel, the Evenstar of her people and the Queen of Gondor
and Arnor, as she stood at the Havens after the death of Aragorn. Her
star, the evening star, sparkled on the edge of the horizon, in the endless
variance of color from the rose of the sun that had set to the black of the
sky above her. A tear, liken unto a diamond in the form of liquid, fell
down her cheek. Her grey eyes stared unceasingly out, out past the place
where her people had last seen the shores of Middle-earth, where her father
in bitter regret saw the vanishing of the knowledge of his daughter, where
Mithrandir had gazed at the place of his long and fruitful labors. She
stood on the place where Samwise had watched his Frodo sail, where Cirdan
sat in patience for the last ship to depart, where the feet of the Eldar
had touched Middle-earth for the final and enduring farewell.
changed only the first and second lines of the third verse from
"And the stately ships go on,
To their haven under the hill"
to make it flow better.
"Break, break, break
On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
O, well for the fisherman's boy
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O, well for the sailor lad,
that he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships went on
To their haven beyond the hills
But O for the touch of a vanished hand
And the sound of a voice that is still!
Break, break, break
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me *."
So sang Arwen Undomiel, the Evenstar of her people and the Queen of Gondor
and Arnor, as she stood at the Havens after the death of Aragorn. Her
star, the evening star, sparkled on the edge of the horizon, in the endless
variance of color from the rose of the sun that had set to the black of the
sky above her. A tear, liken unto a diamond in the form of liquid, fell
down her cheek. Her grey eyes stared unceasingly out, out past the place
where her people had last seen the shores of Middle-earth, where her father
in bitter regret saw the vanishing of the knowledge of his daughter, where
Mithrandir had gazed at the place of his long and fruitful labors. She
stood on the place where Samwise had watched his Frodo sail, where Cirdan
sat in patience for the last ship to depart, where the feet of the Eldar
had touched Middle-earth for the final and enduring farewell.