The Ages Gone

These poems are loosely based on the haiku form and may not conform entirely to the 5-7-5 syllable rule!

***
Middle-earth weeps at
The departure of the fair
Immortal Eldar

With the Eldar gone
Soon the mellyrn, elanor
Become a legend

Lothlórien soon
Passes into time’s grey mists
Vanishing forever

The fate of the Realm
Imladris is no better
With its Lord absent

For never again
Shall such timeless beauty grace
The mortal homelands

Now come is the Age
Of the Dominion of Men
Ilúvatar’s Secondborn.

“If love were a choice, who would ever choose such exquisite pain?” - Anna and the King

===
Exquisite, precious
Arwen Undómiel Noble
Maiden, the Evenstar

Arwen, the brightest
Star in my sky following
Celebrían’s loss

With Ilúvatar’s
Grace did I not cherish my
Daughter’s love enough?

By cruel fate she does
Feel compelled to surrender
Her life’s ample grace

Surrendered for a
Mortal man’s love, so very
Very fleeting love

She has traded an
Eternity in Aman’s
Light for such brief bliss

Yea, once did I call the
Man Estel my son afore
His gall was displayed

Since he won Arwen’s
Hand, my son no longer is he
But Isildur’s Heir

To a King only
Will Undómiel’s grace go
To a King only

O Celebrían!
Our children did you entrust
To my safekeeping

Alas, my love, I
Have failed you, I have failed us
Our daughter will die

What exquisite pain
Love has been called, and indeed
Love that is what it is

The heart’s exquisite
Sorrow it is, yet I would
Not have been denied

For without it in
My heart, instead I would have
Been denied her love

My daughter’s love
Was worth eternal sorrow
O eternal sorrow

What shall I tell your
Naneth, my daughter, about
Your mortal life, hmmm?

Shall I tell her you
Found happiness however
Fleeting in my eyes?

Shall I tell her the
Price you paid was too great for
A mortal man’s love?

Shall I tell her you
Will not be joining us in
The Uttermost West?

Shall I tell her the
Price you paid was too great for
A mortal man’s love?

Shall I tell her you
Will not be joining us in
The Uttermost West?

Shall I tell her that
Aragorn, Arathorn’s son
Was worthy of you?

I cannot tell her
This, for I believe no man
Is worthy of you

So I shall tell her
This man will love you as best
His heart will allow

Aragorn will lend
What comfort he may against
The great sea-longing

He will dry your tears
Shed in vain when you wish to
See my face again

Yes, my daughter
I am not long for this world
With the One’s unmaking

O, my child, know this
My heart will weep for you ‘til
Arda’s unmaking

The hope that will keep
Me from Mandos is the hope
Of our reunion

If Ilúvatar is
Indeed merciful we shall
Be reunited

===
*Naneth / Mother

Royal Chief Archivist Note:
The following was found within the annuals of Rivendell, and is directly translated from the manuscipt written by the she-Elf Celevoniêl, daughter of Iphanterien, to whose tale we sadly do not know the end of.

Could it be that the
Mortals' part of Ilúvatar’s
Song could be sweeter?

Could it be they whose
Laterns burn hotter, brighter
Than immortal lights

Be the sweeter part
Of Ilúvatar’s plan for
The world He hath wrought?

Yea the Eldar live
Scores of years longer than the
Secondborn children but

Perhaps in their brief
Existence upon Arda’s
Vast lands is the more

Joyous, and perhaps
It is sweeter than honey
More glorious than

Varda’s handiwork
That glitter as diamonds in
The curtains of black

Could the Edain know
Greater joy than the Eldar?
Surely they know less

Sorrow than those of
Ilúvatar’s creation who
Endure for as long

As Arda itself?
Since they are not bound to the
Circles of the World

Can they see their Gift
For what it is: Freedom from
Eternal despair?

I know that there are
Those of the Edain who would
Give up Ilúvatar’s

Gift to them if they
Could live forever in their
Present form

Could have our own gift
Of immortality; but
As one who lives with

The Gift, it is not
All the Secondborn believe or
Dream it to be

I, Celevoniêl, daughter
Of Iphanterien have lived long enough
To become wearied to the very core of my soul

Will the West truly
Offer me the rest I seek
Or must I go to the Halls to find rest?

Even then I am in
Doubt Mandos can offer me
The rest I so crave

O, Ilúvatar,
Hear the cry of your child
Give my soul its rest!

Or else I beg thee
To release me from the bonds
Of this World’s oppressive Circles

Hear my cry, release
Me from this curse of the
Eldar, make me as one of the Edain...

Archivist Post Script:
Her Majesty the Queen Arwen I, has informed me it is known through the Elven oral history that Iphanterien o sell Celevoniêl departed into the West shortly after she wrote these verses. It is however unknown whether or not Celevoniêl found her peace as those who go do not return from far yonder shores of Aman.

In my mind’s eye I
Knew the exact moment
My father left this world

I beheld the grey
Ship as it unfurled its sails
Wind carried westward

“Fare thee well, *Ada!”
I whispered, weeping because
I was not with him

But only on that
Day did I weep for what I
Had lost, only then

Never again did
I weep for **Nana, Ada
Parted forever

Not until this hour,
Estel, did I regret the
Sweet and the bitter

Indeed was the choice
I made both the sweet and the
Bitter, so bitter

“What if I had it
To do over again?” I
Ever ask myself

My choice would not be
Any different even
To gain Elvenhome

For as Lúthien
Had no light without Beren
So would my plight be

Even in the Light
Of Aman, I would have died
For the want of you

This and more said I
To Ada, still he bid me
“Come West, my daughter.”

Ada was so sure
Aman’s light would full heal me
As it healed ***Naneth

Healing there was not
To be found there for me none
Ever without you

And so I renounced
The Twilight and embraced a
Mortal’s brief lifetime

Learning to live as
A mortal was difficult
More than expected

But your presence, love,
Eased the transition, and made
It more bearable

Bearable until
This moment when I am faced
With the loss of you

In the moment you
Declared your intent to seek
Sleep with your fathers

As I labored on
The Banner of the White Tree
Ada did warn me

Saying “Thy time with
Arathorn’s son seem will seem all
Too brief, too fleeting

As he lies down to sleep
Forever, thy heart shall be
Utterly broken

In nothing and in
No one shall thee ever find
Any comfort again

Not even in thy
Own children will be able
To mend thy torn heart

Thou shalt know only
Great despair and sorrow ‘til
The end of thy days comes.”

I remember, Estel
Gazing into his ageless
Wise grey eyes, saying,

“If such a moment
Comes, then I will seek out rest
In Lothlórien

To Cerin Amroth
Will I go and there I will
Lay until my soul flees

Flees towards the great
Heavens, and into the arms
Of my only love

We will then flee the
Circles of the World to seek
Ilúvatar’s Halls.”

Many in our Realm
Would be shocked to discover
Their Queen was naïve

Enough to speak such
Word without any thought as
To their consequence

Yea I am naïve
Though I have walked this earth for
Nigh three thousand years

Was I naïve to
Think the time I spent loving
You would be worth the cost?

Nay! Nay! Nay! Estel,
Loving you was worth the cost
And a privilege

I would hasten to
This course again, without a
Moment’s hesistance

===
*Ada / Daddy
**Nana / Mama
***Naneth / Mother

“If love were a choice, who would ever choose such exquisite pain?” - Anna and the King

It may be awhile before I post any more poems or fics as I want to turn my attention towards working on my own original novel now, if only for a little while...

Thanks for reading these poems and for greatly encouraging me with your kind comments!

Until I post my next poem and/or fic I say: Namarie, lothron i Valar tirith or le!