Author's Note: I've undated this from when it was originally published and I still haven't figured out how to format paragraphs on fanfiction.net, but I've made some changes that hopefully make this more legible. Basically three stars (* * *) signify a new stanza. Enjoy!

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Eowyn's Lament

* * *

I sat as a kingdom wavered before me

And an espionage watched and waited

With tainted hands and forked tongue

For me to stumble before him

But I am too stiff to fall

* * *

I rose as one strode in

And overthrew that vile influence with one in white

Thirsty for kindness, I drank

The solace he offered with a misconstrued smile

But his mind and heart are barred to me

* * *

I broke as the standard-bearer of my heart

Rode away with it and my hopes

To plunge into ways beneath the rocks

And call up the ghouls

Who he believes will save us from becoming them

* * *

I rode into battle

With an outer disguise that permits my innermost desires

And those of the halfling

But not half-man, behind me

If I die, it will be

With blood on my sword and my deeds to a song

I will not throw my life away cheaply

* * *

I faced down a blackness

Which made even my own fears

Light in comparison

And I smote the beast

And slew the lord

That stole the sun from my heart

* * *

I lay in shadow, life told by only

A mist on the blade of a prince's sword

And awoken eventually by the

Hands of a king and the

Love of a man I could not wed

* * *

I watched as others -

Few with greater, most with lesser,

Deeds in battle than I -

Rode off to meet the Lidless Eye

And stain the Black Gates red

* * *

I waited for the word

Of a man who is already spoken for

To meet and greet

The victors

But it is only the lesser king who summons me

I will not ride

* * *

And now you stand here

Speaking words strange and stern

Yet soft

To me

But I am not ready to love

No, not quite ready

Yet.