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.
Apacen Mandosto
by: Lindir Lauringollo
I heard the voice | whispered with thunder
Resounded out loud to the world:
Ringing all round | the Doom Ring silent
As the Judge proclaimed it so.
“When weary the world | and hoary the Powers
Enthroned for ages grow
Then shall the call | to the Dark One come
Lost in the Spaces of Eä.
“To him then shall draw | the servants of old
And the unhappy dead enthronged
Shall follow his wrath | through the heavens darkened
In anger and joy of black hearts.
“The Abhorred One, | once Admirable named,
The Necromancer most dark,
Second-most servant | by kingdoms adored
Is drawn to the Black Foe’s side.
There too the seven | Flame-shadow wreathed
His deadliest servants of old:
The Dread Oppressor | flame-wreathed darkly
With iron-clawed whip of flame;
“The Lord of Torture | the Shadow Horror,
With fist of iron adorned;
The Bane of Durin | drowned in shadow,
The bane of the Dreamer as well;
“The Lightless Cleft: | the darkened Son,
Abhorred by his father grim;
The Old One Golden | by Men adored
Wielder of armies most foul;
“The Striving Sword | herald most false
Announcer of Darkness to all;
And lastly the ogress | Prison Most Foul,
Whose arms encircled the Foe;
“All these shall come | the Demons of Might
The Balrogs flaming with dark.
Their whips of flame | and claws of iron
Shall rend the Walls of the World.
“There too shall come | on wings of the dead
The Woman of Secret Shadow
With her legions all dark | with wings smiting the skies
As through the airs they fall.
“With these the Wolf: | The Hungering Maw,
The Blue wolf too is there.
All led by Kurúki | the wizard ensorcelled
Whose nightmares torment all.
“The four cats grim | with hackles raised
Come clawing in as well:
Miaulë fierce | and Oikeroi false,
Tevildo and Umuiyan all.
“The serpents wild | with flame enwreathed
On wings of leather fly
The Golden Gloom, | The Rushing Jaws,
The Crawling One too is come,
“Cold drakes fierce | and fire drakes wild,
Scatha the wyrm as well.
With flaming jaws | and rushing wings
All these adorn the skies.
“The Boldogs old | and Serpents wily
The Balrogs and the Wolves
The Ogres mute | and Giants grim
The Dragons and the Dead,
“All have come | to follow him
To whom in death they heed:
The Black Foe | Morgoth Baugron
The Constrainer of all good.
“Now then they come | through skies all rent
By claw and flame and spell
And to the Sun | and to the Moon
With war and death they speed.
“Then battle joins | in Heaven dark
There driven back the twain:
Ariën fierce | the maiden bright
And Tilion the horned.
“The Ship of gold | and the Fruit of Noon
Are cast into the deep,
The Argent Isle | and Rose of the Moon
Are hurled in the abyss.
“Then darkness falls | upon the world
And to the Foe there comes
The sight of only | one place of light
In Valinor afar.
“There come are all | the host of stars
By Eärendil led
Who by the love | of Sun and Moon
Had thither his bark sped fast
“Upon the plain | now dark outstretched
Under the starless sky
To the Valiant One | and the Breather Wise
He joins his starry host.
“With these are come | the heroic dead
Túrin Master of Doom
And Beren the Bold | One-Handed Man
The Lover of Lúthien fair.
“Eönwë too | the herald triumphant
Conqueror of Morgoth of old
With anger fierce | for love of the maid
Ariën of the Sun
“Bore trumpet gold | and brilliant arms
To battle the Blackened Foe.
These stood then forth | at the head of the host
The Children of Eru arrayed.
“Within that host | assembled across
Those friths and fields blest
Are some of each | of the kinds of all
The Children of The ONE.
“To waking new | from sleep of ages
The Blasphemous host will rise
Their stony bed | will leave for ever
In the Caverns of the Forgotten.
“Thus they shall | their sins redeem
And beyond their deaths they’ll win
As to the host | of the sons of the gods
Their might of arms they join.
“Thus is drawn up | on the Holy Plain
Of Aman in Valinor blest
The host of Heaven | and the host of Hell
In lines of battle ready.
“This battle of | all battles last
And greatest ever to come
Shall end the world | in clash of fate
In the Dagor Dagorath.
“To Morgoth then | Eternal Foe
Shall come the final end.
With the Laughing God | whom he feared of old
He shall in contest strive
“But Túrin grim | of Men ill-fated
Shall drive with wrath his sword
Gurthang dark | into the breast
Of the Foe of Elves and Men.
“With the aid of him | Herald of gods:
Eönwë bright and blest
The sword shall strike | full true its mark
And an end shall be of ill.
“Then leveled I see | the Mountain Wall
And the Circles of Earth are joined.
The Straight Row soothes | the Bent Seas wild
And all is as it was.
“From the Earth and Sea | and the Sky above
The triune realms of Arda
Shall be recovered | the Stones of light
That Fëanor made of yore.
“For Eärendil | mariner blest
Shall from the heaven descend
And surrender the stone | he has from old
To the hand of its Maker true.
“In that glad hour | the hope of gods
And Elves and Men and Dwarves
Shall come to pass | for he will give
His works to Kemi Earth Mother.
“She taking then | the hallowed lights
Shall kindle again the Trees
And o’er the Earth | the Light will spread
Renewing the sick and marred.
“Then shall the Powers | hoary with age
Renewed with youth become,
And awaken the Elves | and all of the Dwarves
Into the world reborn.
“Arda Hastaina | shall be no more
The marring then shall mend
It shall become | the Earth renewed:
Arda Envinyanta.
“The Dwarves will then | with their Maker glad
Take part in the works of change
And fashion for all | and Earth all new
Far greater than was before.
“Then before The ONE | and the Throne of Thrones
A Music New will join
All the sons | of Men long gone
And the Elves of all ages born.
“In this Theme | all shall be right
And a world renewed be born
And Men their home | find beyond all hope
The Firstborn there to meet.
“Then each to each | shall sing in joy
Of the wonders of past and now,
While o’er all things | the Hand of the ONE
Upholds and hallows all.
“Thus shall it be | and thus have ye heard
Ye Children of Elves and Men.
From Evil Good | will ever spring
From the Hand of The ONE in all.”
~~ * ~~
To Maitimo
by: Xiuqi H.
I will not linger to see such a thing of beauty
As you, first-born of Feanor, with such rich gifts
By Eru endowed, destroyed before my very eyes.
As the Sun sets lower, its shades turn bloodier,
And my heart bleeds with it.
As he that is unnamed must be
the Black Enemy of the World,
So must you walk down this path:
A thing must break if it bends not.
I will not waste words, but hear this, beloved:
Plead for mercy before Mandos,
For such a day shall come for you
(And do you think it does not crush me
with sorrow to say this?) –
So you may come back to me,
And there may yet be hope of healing:
My red-haired prince, the dispossessed.
~~ * ~~
These Eyes
by David McG.
As I look beneath this Middle Earth with these Dwarven eyes.
I see the dense bones of its form and the strength that’s held inside.
The jewelled and precious structures, that bedeck it’s hidden frame.
Of diamonds and of sapphires bright that glitter there like flame.
Strands of silver Mithril that provide sinew to the bone
And granite for the muscle in which we Dwarves call home.
These eyes they see the wonder of this glittering, wondrous land.
A place for all the Dwarven Kin carved out by Durin’s hand.
As I look beyond this Middle Earth with these Elven eyes.
I see the vast and swirling plains where the Mearas ran with pride.
The towering snow capped mountain peaks where the Eagles fly above .
Across the seas to Valinor, the Isle where dwells my love.
Towers of great stone cities stand imposing and so grand.
To homely, concealed Hobbit Smials that blend in with this land.
These eyes they see vast distant shores that surround these ageing lands.
There’s no place now for Elfinesse, began by Eru’s hand.
As I look across this Middle Earth with these eyes of Man.
I see a world whose beauty scarred, still stands the test of time.
Where ancient realms and new world meet for us to make our own.
And stake our claim to these readied lands with our Crowned King on the throne.
They look towards the North and South, and across both East and West.
A long time waiting for our time but we finally passed the test.
These eyes they see opportunity throughout a new free land.
We’ll make it ours and ours alone, this land now built by Man.
~~ * ~~
