Laer Boromir
When in the days before the great
Ring of Power roused much hate
and caused great trouble for the few
who made the Dark Lord ever rue
that he had forged that cursed thing,
the One, the dark, the Ruling Ring,
in the land called by Men Gondor
the steward, the second Denethor
had he two sons. One was more dear
to him; his name was Boromir.
He was preferred by Denethor
for he did love to battle more
than did the younger Faramir;
to him, calm peace did have no peer.
Their names themselves, they show this truthful.
Boromir was the 'jewel faithful',
while Faramir, although no fool
was merely the 'sufficent jewel'.
Boromir was fair of face,
with noble features. As of the race
of Numenor, his hair was dark
and grey his eyes. They held a spark
of pride within; his glance was stern.
The sword he did so quickly learn.
A great captain of Men was he;
he led armies to victory.
Yet the weakness of all Men was his.
The desire for power, though heartless it is.
He desired it less strongly than most
yet he grudged Aragorn his post
as the future king of Gondor.
It did weigh upon Boromir sore.
Then he and Faramir shared a dream.
more than once. What it did mean
they did not know. So Boromir
set off to make its meaning clear.
He rode to lovely Rivendell
where the fair Elves in peace do dwell.
The words the dream told him were this:
That he must seek in Imladris
the ancient Sword-that-was-broken,
at a council there, a token
borne by a Halfling would be shown
and to them all it would be known
that waking was Isildur's Bane,
the Ring of Sauron, alive, not slain.
This he Elrond's Council told,
and forth stepped Frodo Baggins bold.
This hobbit chose to bear the Ring
and with him came the son of a king
of the Elves, Legolas Greenleaf.
Of Orc lives his arrows were thief.
And with him too came Aragorn.
Also to him the Dwarf Gimli was sworn.
As a Halfling, he was not alone;
three more hobbits had come from home.
Samwise Gamgee, known as Sam;
his father gardened others' lands.
Meriadoc Brandybuck, a mischievous lad,
he was called Merry; he was rarely sad.
And Pippin, whose right name was Peregrin Took,
who often did leap before he did look,
though not on his own; he followed Merry.
Together at home they often would harry
the hobbits of Hobbiton, a Halfling town.
Gandalf the Grey chose to come down
with the rest to the land in the south of Endor
Mordor, land of Sauron. 'Twas deadly, therefore
the company was glad for Gandalf, a wizard,
who could open elf Gates or calm a blizzard.
And though in his heart he thought it was wrong
to destroy the Ring, Boromir came along.
These nine were called the Fellowship of the Ring.
They were to destroy the evil thing.
Many perils they travelled through;
braved Caradhras, but the snow blew
so hard that pass they could not.
So they took the dark passes fraught
with evil dangers: the old Dwarf halls
of Moria. Where the Orc calls
roused a Balrog in the deep
where it had lain in evil sleep.
Boromir was loath to flee,
but when the Balrog did them see
they ran for the Bridge of Khazad-Dum.
The Balrog followed, making room
for its fiery mass by smashing a wall.
Then he and Gandalf, who fought him, did fall
into the chasm that the bridge spanned.
The rest of the group returned to open land.
They next went to Lothlorien,
and then went on to Amon Hen.
Then at Amon Hen, near the falls of Rauros,
being near the Ring too long, being too close
to its evil, brought madness upon Boromir,
he now wanted the Ring; he began to fear
what would happen if Frodo destroyed the Ring.
He caught Frodo alone, tried to take the thing.
But Frodo with the Ring escapëÐéééed
and Boromir's madness dissipated.
He regretted the evil deed that he had done,
but Frodo, with Sam, alone had gone on.
The others were attacked by Uruk-hai,
fierce Orc-Goblins, sent by the Eye.
They had been told to take any Halfling
they saw, for one of them had the great Ring.
With Frodo and Sam gone, they found Pippin and Merry.
Boromir arrived just as they came to carry
the two hobbits off. With sword in hand
he fought the numberous Uruk band.
Greatly outnumbered, he winded his horn.
'Twas the horn of Gondor; the sound was borne
To Minas Tirith and was heard there.
Aragorn listened and began to tear
towards Boromir as fast as he could.
He knew that this did bode no good.
Then the Uruk leader, the vicious Ugluk,
shot he many arrows; each of them took
Boromir in the chest. Then no more
could Boromir fight; he fell. With a roar
each Halfling took up his Barrow blade
to fight the Uruks. But they were made
short work of; they were carried off.
And so to the Fellowship the hobbits were lost.
Aragorn found Boromir then;
still alive, but unable to mend
his wounds from the black Uruk-hai shafts.
Knowing his doom, Boromir said his last
words on earth. With his final breath
he said that he'd failed, then to him came death.
With great grief Aragorn laid Boromir with his sword,
the shards of his horn, his shield, and a small hoard
of his slain enemies' weapons, in an Elvish boat.
But before they left it alone to float,
Aragorn, Legolas of Boromir sang;
through the woods their voices rang.
To the winds for word of him did they call.
Boromir the Bold, the Fair, the Tall,
they named him. Then they sent the boat
down the Rauros, where it broke
into a thousand tiny shards.
Though some say in songs told by bards
that strangely the boat did not break
and glided swiftly across the lake
and onto the river, where Boromir's brother,
Faramir, saw it. He was filled with wonder
and as the boat drifted nearer
Faramir could see the warrior clearer.
He cried out with sorrow and with much grief
that it was Boromir. Then, like a leaf,
the boat was borne away on the Anduin;
Faramir wondered what had killed him.
Then came the boat to the open sea,
where it sails now for eternity.
Thus endeth the tale of Boromir.
Strong and brave, he felt little fear.
He fell at last with sword in hand
defending his friends, though far from his land.