Songs for the Seasons by losselen

The kingfisher's wing

The kingfisher's wing
Aegnor for Andreth, who is said to have loved her

After the kingfisher's wing
Has answered light to light, and is silent, the light is still
At the still point of the turning world.

- "Burnt Norton"

A silent hour it must be, Andreth, when you fly from the limits of the world. In that hour, where will I be, I who cannot leave its bounds? My heart misgives, thinking of the battle ahead. Long ago I saw you by the clear waters of Tarn Aeluin, the loose waves of your hair flowing in the dark, complex air. Beside you the summer starlings gathered against the falling night. The brightness of your words warmed me, and I first loved you then.

And now, lastly come, your words still warm me. And I love you still, though your body - unbound to your soul - will not hold you forever. Though you once told me that to age is to lose everything.

Nay, lady. I think it is not so.

For we Quendi are bound in the orbs of this infinite-seeming Time, tied as a hare is to the meadow that made him, ever returning to its substance. But Andreth, lo! Where this earth and time ends, that is where you go. The confines of this world are not made for you; they are but the temporary vale where the light of your summer must linger for a season. Despair not, my lady. At the still point of the the turning world it shall find a music less sorrowed.