Disclaimer: haikus existed for centuries and Middle-earth for years before I was even born.
This is dedicated to all those who had to see death with their own eyes, be it in on a battlefield, in a hospital, in a car crash or wherever it may find us.
The Sack of Doriath
Red sun is rising,
Red blood stains winter's grayness.
Air's ringing with grief.
Carnë Vása ortëa,
Sercë hasta mistië hrívëo.
Vista quantëa nyérenen.
***
The Sack of Doriath – second version
Red sun is rising,
Red blood stains winter's grayness.
Wind dries my tears.
Carnë Vása ortëa,
Sercë hasta mistië hrívëo.
Súrë ringa parca niënyar.
Author's Notes:
Depressing, I know, but it was written after a long and painful week of little sleep and a lot of work. For some reason, I keep thinking of snow and blood staining it, red on white… Maybe that aseptic technique video is responsible for it…
Linguistic notes for geeks:
- Mistië was formed from adjective mista (gray) isolated from lassemista (leaf-gray), using a suffix typically used by Tolkien to form adjectival nouns in Quenya.
- Parca might be an adjective or a verb, it is not known for sure, but I am using it as a verb here. - As far as using instrumental case of nyérë, since no clear guideline is available, I am using it by analogy with Russian, the only other language I am familiar with that has instrumental case.
- I am using separate forms of simple and continuous tenses of verbs.