Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our regular monthly feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. Each month we will feature a small selection of the poems submitted, but we hope you will read all of the poems that we have received here in our Great Hall of Poets.
So come and join us by the hearth and enjoy!
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net
One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Ring Cycle
by MarSilvanus
The smiths of Eregion they learnt,
Long ere the fires of Sauron burnt,
To forge the Rings, the art of things
And power in shapes and forms to hold,
Fate sealed in Ring of Gold.
The dwarves in Moria they dwelt
And taught the elves to metals melt
And so create, with hammers shape
The mithril, silver, bronze and gold,
In shapes and forms to hold.
The Rings of Power the elves then forged
And Sauron on their wisdom gorged.
In fair disguise he feigned surprise
When Three Great Rings the elves did mould,
In mithril, bronze and gold.
He saw them not, so Seven more
For dwarves he wrought from precious ore,
And then still Nine with jewels fine
As gifts to Men for falsehood sold,
In Rings that he did mould.
But One still stronger he did make
Hid deep in Mordor: earth did quake
And fires stirred. The elves then heard
His true intent: his powers bent
In heated wrath and malice cold,
Falsehood that he sold.
One Ring he made to rule them all,
Ensnared all but the Three to fall
Under his power and since that hour
As Lord of Rings he ruled of old,
In wrath and malice cold –
Then Middle-earth in Shadow fell,
The Lord of Rings cast his dark spell
And none could stand against the hand
Of blackness that this Ring did hold,
The Lord of Rings of old.
But still against him in defiance
There formed a desperate Last Alliance
Of Elves and Men, they stood again,
Their banners blazed with courage bold,
‘Gainst blackness he did hold.
They marched on Mordor and won back
Much of their realm from Shadows black,
‘Til that Dark Lord at last came forth
In heated wrath and malice cold,
Before their banners bold.
Gil-Galad Elven King was slain,
And Elendil Elf-Friend in vain
His great sword drew – it broke in two,
The West failed at Sauron’s stronghold,
With wrath and malice cold.
But Isildur, son of the King,
With hilt-shard cut off Sauron’s Ring
From his black hand in a last stand:
Thus severed power the Ring controlled,
Failed at Sauron’s stronghold.
Then Sauron fell in grim defeat,
The Shadow fled from his dark seat;
He lost his power, and since that hour
His strength it waned, but still remained
And hid in secret’s shades untold,
Power that the Ring controlled.
Isildur took the Ring to keep,
But lost it to the River deep.
Fate’s blow did wield in Gladden Fields:
For this Ring did dark thoughts enfold,
In secret’s shades untold.
There long it lay in mudded ground
‘Til chance came and at last ‘twas found.
Its malice black then sprang its trap
Possessing mind took precious hold,
And did dark thoughts enfold.
Its poison wore its bearer down,
Drew out his life. Far underground
It lay in wait, attending fate,
Beneath the Misty Mountains cold,
And mind took precious hold.
The Dark Thought waxed though ever hidden:
The Ring perceived, and left, unbidden.
By chance or luck it was picked up:
The tables turned, the tale evolved,
Beneath the Mountains cold.
The Shadow grew, and back it fled
To Mordor and its ashen bed.
The fire reburned, the dark returned,
And watchful peace again was nulled,
And so the tale evolved.
One Ring he made to rule them all:
The Ring has heard its Master’s call.
Whilst light devoured from brooding tower
With growing power has hour by hour
Our fates ensealed in Ring of Gold,
And peace again is nulled.
One Ring he made to rule them all:
The Ring has heard its Master’s call.
One Ring to Find, to Bring, to Bind,
The Lord of Rings rules, as of old,
Our fate with Ring of Gold.
~~*~~
Lord of the Rings Poem
by Jordan K
The light of the Eldar wanes & so the light of Men
The oncoming Shadow lives with Morgoth’s spin
Yet the fell trees will sing in the wood again
The royal seed as meant to be sent
The ‘White Tree’ will bloom in Gondor’s win
Saruman couldn’t stop the Rivers rage
Hobbits will change history in the Third Age
Isildur’s bane will resurrect the pain
Isildur’s heir will pave the way
Dwarves hide from the outside as the Old alliances die
The frost from the North is stormy tide
Angmar is on the Dark Lord’s side
Cry and weep for the fall of Arnor
She has no shield or armor anymore
The ruins exclaim the failure of Numenor
Praise the Maiar who defend the ‘silver cord’
The Sea calls us back to shore for the time is short
The Eagles swoop down as a last resort
Mt. DOOM fumes with poisonous ash & dust
Sauron makes war on us with an Eye of Lust
Disguised in light as a fair form to trust
The Island was crushed & it sank into deep water
Elendil sailed to become Gondor’s father
Elessar carried the light of the Evenstar farther it seems
The Farthing was saved by Gandalf’s dream
The Shire remains to remain evergreen
Elves make music as they dance and sing on distant shores
Remembering no more all the ‘dark lord’ made sore
There are no more foul memories to hoard
No more talk of spider lore or faithless orcs
No more black speech or the screech of enemy hordes
The Road goes on and on as grace affords
Anduril comes down from the ‘elven lord’
A Dunedain ranger reclaims a re-forged sword
It’s called the ‘Flame of the West’
In the words of Gandalf the Grey
‘May the days of the King be blessed!’
~~*~~
Read all the poems submitted for September here.
Click here to read the complete collection in The Great Hall of Poets.
