Parallel

This is just a musing I've had for a little while, one of the bursts of inspiration that has to be indulged... hopefully someone enjoys it.

Tark's Work


He is Aragorn, and he is Estel

And he walks in the woods

Of Imladris, of Rivendell

And his eye alights on her-

She who is Arwen, who is Undómiel.

He calls, he calls to her-

In a moment's span

The wood is Neldoreth, in Doriath

And he is Beren

And she, Tinúviel.


His heart is light, and yet aflame

For her laughter breaks the spell

And she asks, "Why do you call me

By the name

Of Tinúviel?"


He replies, as best he can

Entranced by her

And though she tells him

She is Elrond's daughter

Long in Lothlórien

His heart says, "Lúthien."


His mortal lineage, once so proud and fair

Dwindles to obscurity

In the shadows of her hair.

His name that seemed so high

Is but a vassal, swearing fealty

To the grayness of her eyes.


She is Evenstar, she is Arwen

But yet her heart is still

For he is Beren

And she,Tinúviel

And she must flee

Or face mortality.


He is Elrond, he is Elven

And as he meets the gaze

Of Estel, of Aragorn

He sees no foster son

A mortal elven-raised

But a suitor, crowned with doom

And he is Elu, he is Thingol

Kingship glitters like a Silmaril

'Twixt Beren and Tinúviel.


She is Gilraen, she is Hopeless

And she is Man-hearted, she is Emeldir

For she has only one lingering fear

That her son, like his sire

From that hated wilderness-

So treacherous, perilous, pitiless

So sere, drear, severe-

Might never come back to her.


She is the Lady, she is Galadriel

She walks amidst the golden trees

Her age-long friends, she knows them well.

In joy she sings, an Elvenminstrel

And she is Daeron, an espying Shadow

For upon Cerin Amroth

Tinúviel does not flee- now

She loves a stranger from the wild

And pledges him her troth.


She is Celebrían, and she weeps

Across the leagues that lie between

On the far side of a great, gray sea.

For she knows, for she foresees.

That she is Melian, and she is bereaved.


He is Sauron, he is Abhorred

Annatar brings no gifts now

But ire, fire, spear and sword

War, scimitar, Orc and Red Arrows.

And he is Morgoth, he is Bauglir

But he is doomed to lose his Jewel

And Beren to claim Tinúviel.


He is Elrond, he is grieved

For he must leave

His only daughter.

And he is Elu, he is Thingol

And he yields the promised treasure

(His Lúthien, his Tinúviel)

On a Midyear's Eve.


She is Undómiel no more, she is Evenstar quenched

For he is Beren, but he is dead

Her tears are as the dew, and the grass is drenched

As she weeps, bitterly.

And she is Lúthien, she is Tinúviel

And this is her choice fulfilled

This is mortality.