Farawyn
· 21 May 2005
· Chapter 23: Questions (Sam)
Okay, here goes:
Today, on this day,
I have a gift for you,
I truly hope you'll like it.
If it wasn't for you,
it would never have been written,
let alone read!
But here is my gift,
I hope you enjoy it!
It is my darling child
that I'm presenting to you.
On it I've worked hard and long,
and now,
on this day,
I give it to you,
my encourager.
It's very short, I know,
(it's almost ended here!)
but it's purpose,
I think,
has been fufilled,
and that's to give you a huge
THANK YOU!!!!
Author's reply
ohhhhh what a sweet baby!
so soon and it's already smiling
lying here like a lily on a pad.
I think it looks like you.
Its fingers are curling
around mine already
like daisy petals
soft as a fairy's kiss
and its eyes twinkle
like merry dewdrops
on white honeysuckle.
I think in another moment
it will say its first word.
I think it knows
my secrets already
and I think it hopes for
a very large family......
Thank YOU!!!
xoxoxxx
RoZ aka Armariel~~~{~@
Farawyn
· 19 May 2005
· Chapter 23: Questions (Sam)
Just wanted to say again that I love this. Update soon! Eruanna and I are waiting if nobody else is! I love your work. Note: IN case you didn't notice, this is supposed to be a small repayment of all the encouragement you've given me. I'm perfecting one of my "children" right now, and I'll let you see it as soon as I feel it's ready. Of course, I might strangle it to death and now show it to you at all! I hope that won't happen ... but it might! I'm afriad that I "kill" a very many of my "children." I'm afraid I would be a serial killer if they were really alive! Thanks again for all your encouragement. I can't describe how much it's helped, even though I've never set eyes on your or even know your non-LOTR name! Thanks so much.
Farawyn
Author's reply
I greatly look forward to seeing your "child"! There will be one from me this weekend also, unless something happens to prevent it.
You can learn more about me than you ever wanted to know on my website at http://delroz.bravepages.com/cafe/cafe.html if you are really interested! My non-LotR name is RoZ, pronounced like Rose, RoZita to my online friends. "Armariel" is what happened when I put my actual name through an "elf-name generator" and since it was pretty and unique I quickly adopted it for a pen-name, so just take your pick, LOL....
I'm more than happy to be of help!
xoxox
RoZ/Armariel~~~{~@
Eruanna
· 16 May 2005
· Chapter 23: Questions (Sam)
Well, I don't know why you say this isn't one of your best, but I really like it. :) Of course, the fact that it involves Frodo may have something to do with it. ;) I especially love these lines:
>>You who were most deserving
of all such bounty,
you who gave us hope
and took none for yourself,
pain and loss have been
your only reward.
Why must it be thus?<<
That's such a poignant observation, and so true of the heroes we love best. I'd be interested to see Frodo's reply to this. *hint, hint*
Blessings,
Eruanna
Author's reply
Thanks for the hint, I will file it away for future reference...actually I already have a little bud of a similiar idea in the back of my mind...lol, I almost said "on the back burner", talk about mixed metaphors...... I actually tried writing it down a month or so ago but it was so angsty and depressing, I ended up tossing it after a few lines and writing something else in an entirely different vein. Just couldn't get myself in the mood, I guess! Actually the idea was part of a story I mean to write one of these days, maybe soon. However, I imagine the story will be dripping with angst too, lol........
Anyway, after reading your most recent story I feel all the more honored that you like my little attempts!
blessings & cheer
Armariel~~~{~@
Farawyn
· 15 May 2005
· Chapter 23: Questions (Sam)
So sad.... thanks so much for taking my idea! I thought it was really dumb.
Author's reply
Noooooooo....well, it didn't grab me right away, I'll admit, but after I slept on it a bit, I decided it worked. Thanks bunches!
blessings & cheer
Armariel~~~{~@
Farawyn
· 14 May 2005
· Chapter 22: Shieldmother (Eowyn)
Probably dumb, but what popped into my head as I was reading it was "Shieldmother" instead of "shieldmaiden."
Author's reply
ShieldMOTHER? heyyyyyyyyyyyyy........I think that just may work........*gggggg*
Farawyn
· 12 May 2005
· Chapter 22: Shieldmother (Eowyn)
GREAT! Thanks for taking my idea.
Author's reply
Thanks for suggesting it!
Sorry I couldn't come up with a better title, but I just kinda got stuck...lol
xoxox
Armariel~~~{~@
Eruanna
· 12 May 2005
· Chapter 22: Shieldmother (Eowyn)
Yay, you're back! :) This is quite an amazing little musing: I just love the way you describe what Eowyn saw, and the way that would affect her for the rest of her life. And it's so interesting to have a woman thinking that she would go to war again for her child: usually that sort of thought is reserved for men. :) Anyway, this is another lovely piece, and I can't wait for the next.
Blessings,
Eruanna
Author's reply
Yeah, I hit a dry spell for a while there....Glad it works for you! The same old thing: I never quite know what to make of my own things when they're finished, and often feel a bit let down. Yes, the idea of her going to war again for her child just kind of grabbed me...and there are women even now doing the same, so I guess this poem is my little tribute to them. Too bad few if any of them will ever see it.....
Thank you once more for your words--they are always uplifting!
blessings & cheer,
Armariel~~~{~@
Lily the Hobbit
· 4 May 2005
· Chapter 7: In the Tower (Frodo)
That was heart-wrenching. It's amazing what you can tell with poetry!
Author's reply
Isn't it? Sometimes you can go places with poetry you can't really go with prose. It's rather like a prism that breaks the blinding light of truth down into its real colors and makes them truly viewable.
Thanks for the R&R!
blessings & cheer,
Armariel~~~{~@
Lily the Hobbit
· 4 May 2005
· Chapter 6: The Bridge (Sam)
What a wonderful idea! I have often mourned the fact that Frodo and Sam should never see each other again but your idea brings hope to me again. Great poem!
Author's reply
Exactly...my own relationship with my best friend, who lives on a different continent, inspired it. Well, some friends have the 'Net and some have Elf-magic...:)
Thanks once more!
Armariel~~~{~@
Lily the Hobbit
· 4 May 2005
· Chapter 5: The Gardener Speaks (Sam)
That's very beautiful!
Author's reply
thank you my Dear........:<)
xoxx
Armariel~~~{~@
Hobbit Lass21
· 29 April 2005
· Chapter 7: In the Tower (Frodo)
*teary eyes* Oh my, thats...beautiful. But so, so sad. *shuddery sigh* Sometimes Fanfiction just goes right over my head, other times it pierces my heart and goes straight to the core of me....this is just simply beautifully sad.
Author's reply
Thank you Dearie.......I was going through a pretty bad time myself when I wrote and it really shocked some of my friends...But sometimes lovely things come out of the fire, you know? (I think Eruanna said something like that too *g*)
blessings
Armariel~~~{~@
Horns of the West
· 24 April 2005
· Chapter 13: The Witch King (Witch King)
How very dark...I like it!
Author's reply
Dark can be fun--as well as scary lol...Glad you like it!
cheers
Armariel~~~{~@
I was waiting for this one. ;) And it's another great one, of course. I especially love the way the description of Aragorn's qualities mirrors the image of the Argonath. And when Faramir sees Eowyn... just beautiful.
And from time to time
from within his storied light
the face of a wounded princess
loomed over his shoulder
looking to me
with eyes of wanting
and lucent gloom.
Aragorn is the healer, but it's really Faramir who has a deep love for the wounded ones, whether they be Eowyn, Frodo, Merry, or even Denethor. You've captured that so beautifully here.
Blessings,
Eruanna
Author's reply
So happy to deliver! and thanks once more for your very inspiring and insightful words--I was waiting for them also;) I think I'm a little in love with them both, not that you can tell it, what? lol.....
We need men like that here!
blessings & cheer
Armariel~~~{~@
Farawyn
· 21 April 2005
· Chapter 20: Haven (Aragorn)
Wonderful! I loved it. I guess I like the peoms about the "LOTR Ladies" as I recently heard them referred to a little better, but that doesn't detract from the beauty at the least! I have two poem ideas if you're interested:
Pippin's thoughts as he hears the horns of Rohan
and
Éowyn's thoughts as she stands before the Dark Lord
Just thoughts... I've tried but can't. : )
Later,
Farawyn (is this name to ... I don't know, doofy?)
Author's reply
'Course it's not doofy, it's pretty...maybe what Faramir & Eowyn might name their daughter if they had one, LOL
Thanks, I'll file those ideas away for future reference.......but I really think you CAN do it:D
Thanks for reviewing!
xoxx
Armariel~~~{~@
Raksha The Demon
· 21 April 2005
· Chapter 20: Haven (Aragorn)
I love tales of Aragorn and Faramir, their first meeting and building a working relationship and personal friendship; and this is a very pretty one.
Author's reply
Thank you! So do I. Read a really cute one just today by.....Baggins Babe? Might write a follow-up piece soon! Probably poetry since that's pretty much my specialty but maybe prose, you never know........
Thanks for reviewing!
cheers
Armariel~~~{~@
Eruanna
· 20 April 2005
· Chapter 20: Haven (Aragorn)
What an amazing image of Faramir's call back to life! I was really struck by the way in which the description of Faramir's dark wanderings of the soul, caught between life and death, are very much like Frodo's experience of Mordor, where there is
Neither sound, nor smell, nor taste
nor touch, not even pain,
only the endless pall
of utter solitude.
I never thought of that connection before, but I suppose all encounters with the Black Breath must lead eventually to Mordor, whether that be in waking reality or in the soul itself, or in both.
But then the description of the call back is so utterly beautiful! I love the mingling of joy and sorrow in it. This one line for some reason especially gets me:
I can lay no petaled path
beneath your broken feet.
Your words here are glorious. And the promise that follows after, not of perfect bliss, but of a life truly lived in all its joys and sorrows---what a very wonderful gift! If only we would all take that step into the dawn...
Blessings,
Eruanna
Author's reply
Thank you for your lovely words! You always have the best insights.
Yes, I figure Aragorn is too much the realist to promise anyone a rose garden, and could only offer his friendship and guidance, and help in rebuilding his life. But I like it that he is never quite without hope and has faith in a better future. Thinking of writing a sort of follow-up piece from Faramir's pov, either prose or poetry...but if or when it will get written remains to be seen.
Started writing my Rosie song a few days ago too, but kinda hit a snag. Somehow it's easier for me to write angst than fluff, albeit hopeful angst--don't know why that is, LOL.....Well, maybe someday soon it will work out too!
Thanks once more for reviewing!
blessings
Armariel~~~{~@
Farawyn
· 14 April 2005
· Chapter 19: Elegy for Boromir (Aragorn)
Great? Is it from Frodo or Aragorn's perspective?
And is response - yes!
Author's reply
Aragorn's--Frodo ran off, remember? Been wanting to write this since last summer. I just always thought it so poignant that Aragorn and Boromir should have been the best of friends and comrades with a common purpose, and it was not to be. Seems so often in life it happens like that--circumstances keep people apart and prevent them from having the true friendships or marriages or whatever that they ought to have had. I was just waiting and biding my time till the poem was ready to come out. But finally I just had to, uh, induce labor.....and it came out. Sometimes you just have to do that! Glad you like:D
cheers
Armariel~~~{~@
Eruanna
· 11 April 2005
· Chapter 13: The Witch King (Witch King)
*shudder*
I'm a bit late reviewing this one, because I had to work up the courage to read it. ;)
What I really like about this, though, is that even the Witch-king, who is become as close to pure evil as anyone can get, still has to admit that there is such a thing as beauty, and valor, and light, and glory. And in those last couple of lines, I get the feeling that, for all he wants to terrify his victim, in his inner-most soul he knows he is talking about himself, and his own form of obedience and slavery to Sauron...
Chilling, but very well written. :)
Blessings,
Eruanna
Author's reply
Oho, you've grasped the irony I did intend, the fact that WK is a slave even as he enslaves, sort of the causal chain of evil....or, the "lowerarchy" of hell as C.S. Lewis put it. WK has been reduced to pure evil because he himself has been drained of the attributes he drains from his victims and followers. Yes....it is a pretty creepy thought. Did you hear that bit about the "wraithing process" that's on one of the DVD extras on, I think it was FotR? Interesting commentary that.
Thanks again for reviewing! I find that I like writing things people are scared to read:D:D
blessings
Armariel~~~{~@
Eruanna
· 11 April 2005
· Chapter 19: Elegy for Boromir (Aragorn)
Wow... Another beautiful and moving piece. In parts it sounds almost like the Psalms, or some of the verses in the prophets.
>>There was a legend in your gaze<<
That one line speaks endless volumes. I just keep staring at it. It's one of those sayings that says more than words, and if someone asked you to explain it, you wouldn't be able to, not because you don't know the meaning, but because there is too much meaning to ever be put into mundane explanation.
:) I apologize for getting off on such philosophical tangents. I just wanted to say that this is so incredibly peaceful and full of quiet joy, and there's something transcendent about it that really strikes the heart.
Blessings,
Eruanna
Author's reply
Bless you, gal, don't apologize, you've no idea how good your 'tangents' make me feel inside. I love your insights. You read more into these attempts of mine than I knew was in them, which is very encouraging and inspiring. I always worry a bit that I haven't really accomplished what I set out to do, and feel a bit disappointed in myself, and comments like yours just seem to validate my efforts.
"there is too much meaning to ever be put into mundane explanation."--exactly. That's why I write poetry...to use words to put meaning into that which isn't quite explainable (is that even a word? lol) Well, it's one of the reasons, anyway......
Thanks so much!!!! And philosophize allllll you want to!:D
blessings
Armariel~~~{~@
Farawyn
· 4 April 2005
· Chapter 17: A Morning of Pale Spring (Faramir)
Happy, yes, but sad, somehow.... in a way I can't describe.
Author's reply
Is it because we would all wish for a lover to rescue us from the cage of our sorrows but don't get one?
Mum's the Word
· 3 April 2005
· Chapter 18: Wings (Frodo)
Beautiful songs of forgiveness ought never to be lonely.
"... bids us fly -- and gives us wings" (Bunyan).
Thank you for including this among your "voices."
This is wonderful:
"I feel no pain
he takes it with him
like an irksome glove;
it frets me no more.
Flocks of doves
rise from his eyes
and brush me with feathers
of sanity and music
as he recedes
in pools of skyshine
like an eagle
whose day
in the sun has arrived."
Such an image!
Thank you, and bless you.
Mum
Author's reply
Ohhh you are most welcome....what a nice thing to say! Thanks for reviewing:<) Like the quotation:D
blessings
Armariel~~~{~@
Eruanna
· 2 April 2005
· Chapter 17: A Morning of Pale Spring (Faramir)
Happy indeed! And just in time for that lovely change in the weather, when all the leaves are finally beginning to emerge...
I love the image of sorrow as a bonfire, and the picture of Eowyn's fingers as tender vines reaching out to Faramir's as though they were both soil and light. Another beautiful poem. :)
Blessings,
Eruanna
Author's reply
Thanks! "as though they were both soil and light"--that's a nice image too...but your writing is so poetic, it shouldn't surprise me too much:D
Yes, thought it was about time I wrote a springish poem, after all that wintry angst............
blessings
Armariel~~~{~@
Farawyn
· 29 March 2005
· Chapter 16: Shieldmaiden (Eowyn)
That's great egging on! But if you hear anything from whoever you pointed mine out to, tell me, will ya? I'm not expecting, "Oh, that's great!" or anything, but you know, encouragement or "That's horrible but a good start." or the like.
Author's reply
Will do, but I seriously doubt anybody thinks it's horrible...and somehow I doubt they would tell me if they did think so!;) But just write your little heart out, no matter what!
It's definitely a good start!
~~~{~@
Farawyn
· 29 March 2005
· Chapter 16: Shieldmaiden (Eowyn)
By the way, has anyone been following my reveiws/Armariel's replys? I'd like to know if anyone else liked my little poem, I guess I need some egging on before I write something else!
Thanks.
Author's reply
I haven't heard anything one way or the other on it...but I wouldn't let that stop you, if there are things in your head and heart that need to come out, then by all means let them come--and squeeze them out if you have to! Just find some middle ground between "Ahhh, nobody's gonna like anything I write, my stuff is crap, I might as well forget it" and "I'll just write anything I want to, most readers are idiots anyway, they only like silly crap, etc." and take it from there!
I did brag to some of my friends that someone had written me a poem-review, which as far as I know is an unprecedented thing, and they thought that was really cool, but if they saw the actual poem I don't know. (I think I did point it out to them) But no matter, if you want to write, then for pete's sake JUST DO IT!!! How's that for egging on? LOL
Piece of advice, and the professionals advocate it too: write the sort of things you love to read yourself. And don't worry if you find yourself imitating those you admire, perfectly natural thing to do. If you keep at it long enough, your own style will evolve naturally.
xoxox
Armariel~~~{~@
Farawyn
· 29 March 2005
· Chapter 16: Shieldmaiden (Eowyn)
Oh, thank you so much.... and I wouldn't MAKE yourself write a poem-a-week, I don't think they'd be as good that way, if you HAD to write them.
Thanks again,
Farawyn
Author's reply
You're welcome, and thank YOU...and of course I don't HAVE to write a poem a week, it's, well, a long story...let's just say, I made a bargain with the Almighty that if He'd help me out I'd write at least one poem per week...not necessarily LotR, but that's what inspires me most, so that's what I mostly do. I actually WANT to write a poem a week, and that seemed a good impetus. Sometimes I just get lazy, I want to do artwork, or read somebody else's fanfic, or chat with friends, or something or other rather than write. But if I make a resolution and then just sit my butt down and make myself write, then things happen. I used to have this idea that poems just come when they're ready, like a baby chicken when it comes time to hatch out of the egg. But now I think poems come when you sit down in front of the computer or the typewriter or your notebook and take pen or keyboard in hand and MAKE them happen.
Here's something I've been doing lately to make poems and drabbles happen: pick a line or two out of the book or movie that particularly appeals to you, then just let the speaker of that line expand on it and have his or her say. Sometimes I end up keeping the quotation, stated in italics, and sometimes I scratch it out in the final draft, if the speaker strays too far from it and it's no longer relevant to the main idea of the poem (that's what happened with this most recent one!) The main thing is just to let the ideas flow, then do the arranging afterward. I end up amazing myself every time at things I didn't even know were in my soul but rise to the surface through this method! A sort of literary scuba diving LOL
blessings
Armariel~~~{~@