Words beneath a dappled sky

A challenge was given to describe something complex in words of only one syllable and no more - and still make sense and preferably rhyme! This poem on the battle of Helm's Deep was the result.

We Won
( We had no hope, the foe was strong )

Chalice tipp'd, crushed lily-bud,
Spilling your gold among the blood,
To lay, a time unseeing.

For Eowyn, both her courageous stand over the dying Theoden and the war she fought in the heart.

Stand
( Behold the honour of this house! )

-
Daughter of Kings
( A winter-bourne lily, you were lovely but cold )

-

Kicking off the Return of the King set, here's a quick-paced rhyming piece for Master Merry, esquire of Rohan, or as the man who mistook him for baggage while tripping over him in the dark called him, "Master Bag".

Baggage
( Don't leave me behind! )

-

Three for Helms Deep and just after

For the Battle of Helms Deep I really have very little, but this first one notes Gimli's astonishment at the unacknowledged treasure that the Rohirrim were using as wartime storerooms. The second is a short verse for the uprising of the trees when they set the leftover orcs to better work as fertilizer. Not top quality works, but still worth a quick read.

With them I'm tucking a favorite piece for Theoden and Merry, which happened at Dunharrow rather than Helms Deep but followed shortly after. Their relationship always touched me. Anyone with a passing familiarity with Yeats will recognize it began as an adaptation from "When You are Old and Grey".

Glittering Caves
( Wand'ring blind through paradise )

-
Huorns
( Roaring and silent )

-
Theoden
( Like a father you were, to him, - for a little while )

-

My liege fades under his counselor's hand
Like an old parchment slowly losing its words
Not to the brightness of sunlight
But to the spores and small creeping things
That favor the night.

Another set of two for Rohan - Eomer's despairing attempt at bringing a response from Theoden to deal with the death reaching in over their borders in Meduseld, and with it a sketch of how Gandalf is perceived by the Rohan people and court as a bearer of ill news, as he tries to warn them of the coming war.

Eomer
( Meduseld... A golden cage, a lush death bed scented with herbs and hay )

-
Stormcrow's Warning
( Yes, where Stormcrow flies, war comes close behind=, and grievous the carrion birds surely to follow )

-

Once again, Shakespeare provides a framework that suits the subject matter so very well -

For Eomer, betrayed and exiled by his own Lord's twisted command:
( Eomer: Hands of Falsehood )

Theoden:
( Dark were my Dreams, of Late )

( I Shall Not Now Be Ashamed )

Add one...add one... add one...

A rhopalic is a poetic form / word-play construct in which each succeeding word is one segment longer than the preceding one. It may be with increasing syllables, or (a bit more difficult) by adding one additional letter to each word as you go. In this sense, writing one feels to me more like carefully constructing a puzzle than flowing along with imagery as I usually do.

( Merry: I by his dear grace... )

-
( Merry: In planning honesty's conspiracy... )

-
( Theoden: I, an age aged after deceit... )

-
( Eomer: For Rohan, loyalty undivided... )

-
( Thoeden & Eowyn: No battles; unheeded... )

But what's an acrostic for the alphabet?

After briefly considering them, I've decided to spare this journal the limericks... I mean - really... Acrostics, on the other hand, at least take a bit of thought and planning with the letters serving as a useful jumping off point. Some of these are light, others have more time in them.

Acrostically speaking -

( Bilbo Baggins )

( Shire Tale )

( Bill the Pony )

( Smeagol / Gollum )

( Aragorn Elessar )

( Eowyn of Rohan )

( Frodo Baggins, Ringbearer )

( Gwaihir )

( Meriadoc Brandybuck )