The Flammifer of Westernesse
Based upon the tale of Earendil the Morning Star, as translated from the Elvish tongues by J. R. R. Tolkien
Author's note: My favorite Tolkien poem of all time is Bilbo's account of Earendil's journey in "The Fellowship of the Ring". I cannot hope to ever compare, but the last line, "the flammifer of Westernesse" just seemed to wake something in me. I don't believe I did that thing justice in this poem, but I try.
There was a mariner of old
In elder days, of tales untold
Who built a ship in days of yore
Upon forsaken, blood-strained shores
Who stirred his flower of the foam
In search of hope that failed to come
The sea he braved, the silent west
The grinding winds that had no rest
The islands wrapped by fog and gloom
The lands of bliss, the lands of doom
The Blessed Realm he sought - and found
And there a fate to him was bound -
An endless journey that began
East of the moon, west of the sun
Shine for us, A Gil-Estel!
Of elder days your fair light tells
Of heroes in the barren north
Of shadows torn, of hope brought forth
A dark made light, a world made blessed -
The Flammifer of Westernesse
He brought the cries of dying Men
Of Elves despairing once again
Of lamentations from afar
The joyless songs of Arda Marred
He brought the tidings from the East
Where joy - where hope was sorely missed
Before the Hallowed and the Great
He stood alone, brought forth by fate
Brought forth by something greater still
Than godly wrath and godly will
Despair had sent him on the waves -
And hope him drove the west to brave
Shine for us, oh Star of Hope!
The endless battle never stops
Another dark will ever fall
Another shadow covers all
But you shall not despair, one blessed
The Flammifer of Westernesse
And thus in Valinor the fair
Were spoken words of dark despair
The light made dimmed, the joy made rage
The Valar rising war to wage
Upon the north; bright victory
To finally set the Children free!
And he who brought the tiding there?
What now shall do the messenger?
Of neither kindred he is born
His very soul and fate are torn
Not of this world can he remain
Who brought an end to endless pain.
Shine for us, Earendil!
Triumphant light above us still
With the rising of the sun
With falling dusk when days are done
The long cold night you make the less
The Flammifer of Westernesse
They set for him a ship of light
Fixed in the darkness of the night
The Silmaril, the cursed and loved
They radiant placed high above
Over Middle-Earth to sail
In skies of night to blaze a trail
With every dusk, with every dawn
A mission bold that goes still on
To light the darkest of the days
To answer those who for hope pray
A sign of godly love still set
That the West remembers yet
A brilliant sign in darkened sky
That light - that hope can never die
Shine for us, the Flammifer!
All the trials we would bear
If in the ending of the strife
Your light shall shine yet on our lives
And we will know - we too are blessed
The Flammifers of Westernesse
~~End~~
Based upon the tale of Earendil the Morning Star, as translated from the Elvish tongues by J. R. R. Tolkien
Author's note: My favorite Tolkien poem of all time is Bilbo's account of Earendil's journey in "The Fellowship of the Ring". I cannot hope to ever compare, but the last line, "the flammifer of Westernesse" just seemed to wake something in me. I don't believe I did that thing justice in this poem, but I try.
There was a mariner of old
In elder days, of tales untold
Who built a ship in days of yore
Upon forsaken, blood-strained shores
Who stirred his flower of the foam
In search of hope that failed to come
The sea he braved, the silent west
The grinding winds that had no rest
The islands wrapped by fog and gloom
The lands of bliss, the lands of doom
The Blessed Realm he sought - and found
And there a fate to him was bound -
An endless journey that began
East of the moon, west of the sun
Shine for us, A Gil-Estel!
Of elder days your fair light tells
Of heroes in the barren north
Of shadows torn, of hope brought forth
A dark made light, a world made blessed -
The Flammifer of Westernesse
He brought the cries of dying Men
Of Elves despairing once again
Of lamentations from afar
The joyless songs of Arda Marred
He brought the tidings from the East
Where joy - where hope was sorely missed
Before the Hallowed and the Great
He stood alone, brought forth by fate
Brought forth by something greater still
Than godly wrath and godly will
Despair had sent him on the waves -
And hope him drove the west to brave
Shine for us, oh Star of Hope!
The endless battle never stops
Another dark will ever fall
Another shadow covers all
But you shall not despair, one blessed
The Flammifer of Westernesse
And thus in Valinor the fair
Were spoken words of dark despair
The light made dimmed, the joy made rage
The Valar rising war to wage
Upon the north; bright victory
To finally set the Children free!
And he who brought the tiding there?
What now shall do the messenger?
Of neither kindred he is born
His very soul and fate are torn
Not of this world can he remain
Who brought an end to endless pain.
Shine for us, Earendil!
Triumphant light above us still
With the rising of the sun
With falling dusk when days are done
The long cold night you make the less
The Flammifer of Westernesse
They set for him a ship of light
Fixed in the darkness of the night
The Silmaril, the cursed and loved
They radiant placed high above
Over Middle-Earth to sail
In skies of night to blaze a trail
With every dusk, with every dawn
A mission bold that goes still on
To light the darkest of the days
To answer those who for hope pray
A sign of godly love still set
That the West remembers yet
A brilliant sign in darkened sky
That light - that hope can never die
Shine for us, the Flammifer!
All the trials we would bear
If in the ending of the strife
Your light shall shine yet on our lives
And we will know - we too are blessed
The Flammifers of Westernesse
~~End~~