Words beneath a dappled sky

Caged by men, to foe unfearing
The bars give way with courage nearing
In lines of steel her fair face tearing
Sharp, bright-edged Eowyn

An adaptation of Tennyson's Lady of Shallot for Eowyn's story, the idea was started by someone else but caught my fancy so I ran with it. I remember spending the better part of a long Thanksgiving weekend trip with a notebook in hand struggling to work this through - and yes, it's just as long. For what it's worth, I've had a couple people tell me they preferred it to the original, which was a fine compliment indeed.

The Lady Eowyn
( In hall of stone above the plains )
-

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

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 )
-

A sweet little verse form

The rondelet is French in origin, a short poem of a single septet (that is, 7 lines long), with only two rhymes, and one refrain, which is repeated. The result is, I think, very like flower petals working their way around a flower, small and soft but with a grace and closure I find lacking in some other short forms, such as haiku.

( Outside the gate )
( Leaves in the wood )
( Longbottom Leaf )
( Valiant maid )
( In Pippin's eyes )
( A silver spoon )
( Beyond the sea )
( There is no time )
( Promised, Master )
( Greenest fields )
( For September 22nd )

The Ae Freislighe is an Irish syllabic stanza form, and this is an attempt to render one in English:

Barrows

The Barrow Downs lie in the mist,
The wreathing wisps grasp the stones,
Call me now a pessimist
But this cold reminds of bones.

Long ago they fell beneath,
Dark the shades that crept within,
Heavy gold they shall bequeath,
Entrapping weight to stiffen.

Why did we stop, unthinking?
Now my plaintive cry resounds,
Answered only in clinking,
Far beneath the Barrow Downs.

--
With it I'm placing a trio in the form of a Burns Stanza, named for the pattern favored by the famous Robert Burns.

( Not for Thee )
-
( Eowyn Heals )
-
( Grima's View )

I am contemplating the veritable mountain of poetry I have, trying to decide how best to present the portions worth presenting. Haiku is a bit like potato chips, really, tiny bites that can either be savored or crunched down quickly according to mood.

( A pile of Tolkien-themed haiku )