Undaunted Despair
Call'eth thee to the other shore,
Where all shall linger evermore?
Must all set forth to sail the seas,
To go to the land of the long-dead Trees?
I am a warrior without the battle-lust,
I am the living blade that shall never rust,
I am the soul who has no home,
I am the spirit whose heart shall ever roam.
The ocean has power over me,
Alas for those who feel the Sea!
I do not wish to leave these forests,
Yet I yearn for the sigh of the pale sea-crests.
This need I hate and yet adore,
This rending of my heart by the sea-shore,
To stay or go I cannot decide,
For this I have forever cried.
If I go, I shall forever regret,
Not seeing the sun once more set,
Not walking beneath my home, the woods,
Cursed forever by the 'what ifs?' and coulds.
Ai! Yet this yearning I cannot deny!
If I stay beneath the starlit sky,
I shall pine for the sea, and Valinor,
Death from within my very core.
I look around and see these others,
These men, these children, these fathers.
They are happy, but do I wish,
To be with them and to forever miss?
Without the other I am torn,
If I stay I face men's cruel scorn,
And yet, if I go, surely I shall die,
Without the sight of my moonlit sky?
They say that in Eldamar all things are bliss,
That sea's sorrow-yearning is but the wind's kiss,
But how do I know this to be true?
How do I know that I shall not die too?
I think, at the end of all things,
I shall never again see the stars as Varda sings,
I shall be dead of my yearning for both ocean and air,
I shall be dead of undaunted despair.
Namárië,
Nallasariel the Weeper