First posted this on Gaia [05/06/05 11:02pm] Was on my Old Account.
An Elvin-maid there was of old
A shining star by day:
Her mantle white was trimmed with gold,
Her shoes of silver-grey.
A star was bound upon her brows,
A light upon her hair
As sun upon the golden broughs
In Lorien the fair.
Her hair was long, her libs were white,
And fair she was and free;
And in the wind she went as light
As leaf of linden-tree.
Besides the falls of Nimrodel,
By water clear and cool,
Her voice of falling silver fell
Into the shining pool.
Where now she wanderes none can tell;
In sunlight or in shade;
For lost of yore was Nimrodel
And in the mountains strayed.
The elvin-ship in haven grey
Beneath the mountain-lee
Awaited her for many a day
Beside the roaring sea.
A wind by night in northern lands
Across and loud it cried,
And drove the ship from elvin-strands
Across the streaming tide.
When dawn came dim the land was lost,
The mountains sinking grey
beyond the heaving waves that tossed
Their plums of blinding spray.
Amroth beheld the fading shore
Now low below the swell,
And cursed the faithless ship that bore
Him far from Nimrodel.
Of old he was an Elvin-king
A lord of tree and glen,
When golden were the broughs in spring
In fair Lothlorien.
From helm to sea they saw him leap,
An arrow from the string,
And dive into the water deep,
As mew upon the wing.
The wind was in his flowing hair,
The foam about him shone;
Afar they saw him strong and fair
Go riding like a swan.
But from the west has come no word,
And on the Hither Shore
No tidings Elvin-folk have heard
Of Amroth evermore.
