Heritage & Canker

Yet for all your wisdom, you did not see
That a wound cannot be filled with shadows

A pair for Denethor, who obviously was once a better leader than the unstable wreckage he was becoming by the time the narrative reaches him. The first addresses his pride and claim on the leadership, the other his clinging to it by choosing to use a poisoned tool as a source of 'wisdom'.

Heritage
( Lost beneath the banners and proud lineage )

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Canker
( Leader of ashes, Steward of secrets )

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Counsel of Lies

Evil counsel, sweeter than honey, came to you

A 'moral' poem comparing and contrasting Denethor and Theoden, a Steward and a King facing massive decisions and having to carefully choose whom they listen to.

Counsel of Lies
( Two leaders of men in a time of dark war )

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Erech Memorial

The stone reaches its blackened roots into another time,
Holds the wound open
And remembers.

A consideration of the Stone of Erech, where Aragorn rallied the Dead.

This piece was a MEFA poetry finalist, 2004.

Erech Memorial
( Every wounded sunset sees it face another black night )

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Fishhh

Om nom nom

Something Completely Different. This small verse for Smeagol's scrambling after his supper near Henneth Annun is strangely memorable, my family still launches into it from time to time.

Fishhh
( Fishhh for Gollum, fishhh for strength )

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Ithilien & Window on the West

So near to darkness, green life holds sway

I've always had a love for plants and for simple gardening, perhaps that is part of why Ithilien remains one of my favorite places in M-e, the idea of a garden overgrown, the life just beneath the neglect. The first poem is a gentler verse for the bit of broth Sam made there, before meeting Faramir - the second is for the window beneath the waterfall of Henneth Annun and the contrast of its color and light with the darkness the men were dwelling in behind it.

Ithilien
( A gardener's hands are among you )

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Window on the West
( Deep memories of some heart’s desire )

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Sestina for Faramir

No doubts to touch their hearts, no fear however small
That you would ever lead them astray, no question
Ever shadowing their hearts to wonder at your honor.

A homage to Faramir and like The Red Book this is in the form of a sestina, where key words are shuffled and re-used in different order at the ending of each line in each stanza.

Sestina for Faramir
( Though youthful for a Captain )

No Other Way & Poor Smeagol Harms Not Master

Lighting those trailing threads of life
On an austere, stony, fallen brow

We reach the Crossroads with its fallen, flower-crowned king and decisions to be made that are not truly choices - with it an unusual piece on Gollum that was a poetic exercise in an unusual form from the 13th century.

No Other Way
( Herein lies the point of decision )

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Poor Smeagol Harms Not Master
( All the moanings merely madness; the whispers call though often fall to bickering and sadness )

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Morgul Vale

Pale as sweet milk, yet rotted inside;
Luminous as the rising moonlight,
As the drying gleam of eyes newly dead.

This is a very dark piece, for me - the poisoned flowers of the Morgul Vale and the way they had been twisted from their natural purpose yet still bloomed. The underlying thought in this verse is that of children who are abused and kept in twisted situations until they believe it is 'normal' and go on to repeat those poisonous patterns and behaviours as they grow. Something or someone surrounded and steeped in distortion and deception will so often take it in simply for lack of anything whole or clean, a tragedy indeed.

Morgul Vale
( the innocent deeply partake of evil )

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Minas Ithil

A tower with two faces

This is a poetic examination of the history of Minas Ithil / Minas Morgul, the formerly graceful Tower of the Moon that fell into darker hands and became what it was when we encounter it in the narrative.

Minas Ithil
( radiant daughter of the Moon )

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Star Watch & A Song in the Dark

Silent and bright, the stars watch over
My suffering.

I bring the set for The Two Towers to a close with Sam's point of view as he watches the stars, and then seeks after Frodo in the tower. The first is an echoing pattern that I found very effective for the topic, the second is written with a simple song's rhythm - could use some editing, perhaps and I may eventually go back and rework it.

Star Watch
( The light of Eärendil glitters )

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A Song in the Dark
( When it all seems ended, with no witness to our tale )

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Sam Considers Gollum & Lots of Roughage

Before I launch into the set for Return of the King - Time for some random lighter bits of verse!

Two short bits that still amuse me even after all this time, one for the lack of love lost between Sam and Gollum, the other for that dramatic moment when Boromir lunges for the Ring and ends up eating leaves.

Sam Considers Gollum
( Your eyes a buggin' )

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Lots of Roughage
( Gimme dat. )

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Baggage

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! )

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Heads & Beregond

Slaying
And guarding in the same blow.

Meanwhile, things were not going well over in Minas Tirith - one verse for the horrifying items catapulted in, one for my favorite brave Gondorian soldier who was dealing with his Lord's insanity. Beregond is interesting in that it is written as a layered piece, two poems in one.

Heads
( these missiles that do not burn )

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Beregond
( He burns - )

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Snowmane

You were made for one another,
The mount of a King

A poetic homage to Snowmane, his faithful service and the tragedy of his death and Theoden's.

Snowmane
( Surely you were foaled for this very season )

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Stand & Daughter of Kings

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! )

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

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Merry on the Pelennor Fields

Great heart will
Not
Be denied

A companion piece, of sorts, to Pippin in Gondor and one of my personal favorites.

MEFA First Place winner for 2008, Dramatic Poetry

Merry on the Pelennor Fields
( A cold wind is rising )

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Burial

We should not be here, Pip.

Merry's heart-wrenching inquiry to Pippin when he finds him in the war-torn streets, they were both so terribly beyond anything they were intended for. This originally was carefully formatted, I've had to make do with dashes here on LJ and hope they aren't too distracting.

Burial
( Are you going to bury me? )

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Merry's Awakening

In such grieving as this is found wisdom,
And in wisdom you will find your strength.

A longer piece for Merry's being recalled from the darkness and grieving by Aragorn's skill.

Merry's Awakening
( My heart has gone grey and still as death )

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Strange Comfort & Faramir in the Garden

"Walk with me." He says, and I do.
Inside my heart I look askance at myself.
What of my own people? My own ambitions?
Yet... I want to walk in the garden with him,
To walk and wander and to have it never end.

An interlude among the war and darkness - this set has the same event from two different viewpoints and styles. The first is Eowyn's, and is a thoughtful, poetic prose style with longer flowing lines. The second is Faramir's and has been set to a more tightly patterned rhyming form with the intent of a military feel. The companion piece for this set would be Ithilien Sunset.

Strange Comfort (Eowyn in the Garden)
( There is little green or open in this city of stone )

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Faramir in the Garden
( More open lands you love, perhaps )

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Two Such Friends - for Legolas and Gimli

Though few can understand how we complete one another;
And they stare at us in wonder as we walk the city streets

One of those ultimate friendships in literature, the bond that grew between this most unlikely pair.

Two Such Friends
( we are lessened when we are apart )

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Untold Tales - a war story for every war

The living mourn for the dead,
And are one day mourned in their own turn

A look at the loss and stories that will never be told in every life lost.

Untold Tales
( Did they mourn for the death of their dreams )

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The Temptation of the Ring

This darling pain that wounds and sears
And wrings such beauty amid my tears
By deadening me to my earthly cares

This is roughly based on an Emily Bronte poem called "Plead for me," which seemed to suit the push-pull internal struggle that beat at Frodo's reasoning.

The Temptation of the Ring
( Ah, thy bright gold must answer now )

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