Boats to Build  by Guy Clark/ Verlon Thompson

It's time for a change
I'm tired of that same ol same
the same ol words the same ol lines
the same ol tricks and the same ol rhymes

Days precious days
roll in and out like waves
I got boards to bend I got planks to nail
I got charts to make I got seas to sail

- Chorus -
I'm gonna build me a boat
with these two hands
it'll be a fair curve
from a noble plan
let the chips fall where they will
cause I've got boats to build

Sails are just like wings
the wind can make em sing
songs of life songs of hope
songs to keep your dreams afloat

- Chorus  -

Shores distant shores
there's where I'm headed for
got the stars to guide my way
sail into the light of day

- Chorus -

Sometime ago I read Fileg’s lovely “As Truly As The Arrow Flies”   (http://www.storiesofarda.com/chapterlistview.asp?SID=286), in which ‘young Faramir learns about the constellations from his Grandfather’ and began thinking about what Adrahil might have to teach his other grandson.

This is essentially bookverse, but I’ve taken a few small liberties.  Tolkien tells us little about Adrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth, father to Imrahil and Finduilas; we know nothing of the end of his reign or his life although in The Peoples of Middle Earth his dates are given as 2917-3010 TA.  In this story, the math – in terms of dates – is all wrong:  please overlook it.  I imagine Adrahil abdicates in favor of his son when Boromir is 14, old enough to argue with, listen to, and remember his Grandfather.  As per Tolkien’s timeline, Finduilas would have by then succumbed to her illness, but I elected to have her live a little longer..

This story is not deep thought, but it's been on the back burner for quite a while and high time I had done with it.

NOTES ON SINDARIN WORDS AND PHRASES

Rhach-ha:  (Sindarin), literally:  “Curse it”

Nanadhron:  (Neo-Sindarin) - Maternal Grandfather (literaly Mothers’ male parent)
Note: (in fabricating this word, I especially liked the idea that the male term might begin with a female element (Nana = mother); of course, of the corresponding words – Adadhron (Paternal Grandfather), Adadhril (Paternal Grandmother), and Nandhril (Maternal Grandmother) – only one continues the pattern.  Oh well.

Sui gaearon nur:   (Sindarin) an oath:  “as the sea is deep”

Lunt Thavron:  (Sindarin), name of a shipwright, from 'Lunt' = boat and 'Thavron' = carpenter, wright, builder.  Not to imaginative but to the point.

Ceredir Magol:  (Sindarin), name of a swordsmith, from Ceredir = doer, maker  and Magol = Sword. 

Adadhron -   Grandfather, Father’s Male Parent  (Ada + odhron), as above