"Zimraphel" and "I who loved her" by Noliel, Dawn Felagund

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Fanwork Notes

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Tar-Miriel faces the wave that will drown Númenor while, in the midst of the forbidden realm of Valinor, Ar-Pharazôn is granted sudden awareness of her fate.

Major Characters: Ar-Pharazôn, Tar-Míriel

Major Relationships:

Genre: Poetry

Challenges: Akallabêth in August

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Character Death, Mature Themes

This fanwork belongs to the series

The Poetic Silmarillion
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 197
Posted on 31 August 2009 Updated on 31 August 2009

This fanwork is complete.

"Zimraphel" by Noliel and "I who loved her" by Dawn Felagund

"Zimraphel" was drawn by Noliel and inspired "I who loved her," written by Dawn.

Read "Zimraphel" by Noliel and "I who loved her" by Dawn Felagund

"Zimraphel" by Noliel
(Click for the full-sized image.)

Zimraphel by Noliel

"I who loved her" by Dawn Felagund

I who loved her knew her face
First when yet a maiden fair,
When we met in a garden overgrown
And plighted our troth there.

I who loved her knew her face
Across unrav'ling years
As time dulled her beauty perilous
Yet made her no less dear.

He who made her knew her face;
Carved her likeness of flesh and bone
And pondered with calculating eye
That my affections she would earn.

But I who loved her knew her face
And memorized o'er the years
The delicate contour of flesh and bone,
Sketched in the trajectory of tears.

For He who made her knew her face
Only as an emblem of our fate,
And no laughter, tears from she or I
Could divert what our land awaits.

I who loved her knew her face
As she was whelmed over by the sea.
I screamed with the horror in her eyes
As the mountain covered me.

But He who made us heard our screams
As just another note in His song.
She was most beautiful as she died:
The likeness He'd planned all along.

Chapter End Notes

A tremendous thank-you to Noliel, who's wrenching piece Zimraphel inspired this poem!

The premise of this poem is based on The History of Middle-earth: The Peoples of Middle-earth, where Tolkien considered the idea that Miriel was not wholly unwilling in her marriage to Pharazon:

He [Ar-Pharazôn] was a man of great beauty and strength/stature after the image of the first kings, and indeed in his youth was not unlike the Edain of old in mind also, though he had strength of will rather than of wisdom as after appeared, when he was corrupted by the counsels of his father and the acclaim of the people. In his earlier days he had a close friendship with Amandil who was afterwards Lord of Andúnië, and he had loved the people of the House of Valandil with whom he had kinship (through Inzilbêth his father's mother). With them he was often a guest, and there came Zimrahil his cousin, daughter of Inziladun who was later King Tar-Palantir. Elentir the brother of Amandil loved her, but when first she saw Pharazôn her eyes and her heart were turned to him, for his beauty, and for his wealth also.

(DF)

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Such a beautiful and heartbreaking poem. I can almost hear Pharazon saying it in his grief. I always wondered what went through his mind when he discovered what had become of Numenor or if he ever found out. I like the version of him and Zimraphel in PoME.  It makes more sense. Noliel did a wonderful job on the illustration too. Zimraphel's horror and grief is captured with a great amount of accuracy. There is even beauty in her expression too.

Thank you! :) You're right that I was going more with what sounded right in my head rather than going for a fixed meter. Honestly, I usually only use a traditional meter when working on a project for the medieval re-creation group I play with! Perhaps one day I'll gird my loins and tackle making this one pure iambic or pure trochaic. ;) Thanks again for reading and commenting!

This is the first poem of yours I've read I think!  (Not that I know how many you've written.)

 

The last two stanzas affected me emotionally (I actually thought of Rogue One while I was reading them).  I think you effectively illustrated how small we all are but  also how we each can leave our mark on the world.

 

I think I don't read poetry enough - this was lovely and I enjoyed it very much.  :)