Homage to the Song of Durin by Flora-lass

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Homage to the Song of Durin

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For Gimli son of Glóin:

 

I notice, not without surprise,

That strange light glowing in your eyes.

Your mountain-names give me a thrill:

‘Barazinbar, Zirak-zigil...’

The path of dread we now must choose -

If you go, how can I refuse?

 

You tap the rock; I listen long.

Could we be hearing the same song?

And while I think of what once grew

I wish to speak of stone with you.

The emblems on the Doors explained

The friendship of the past - now waned

(And we earned Gandalf's ire because

We clashed about whose fault it was!)

 

As your ancestral halls appear

I watch you enter without fear.

I fix my gaze on Gandalf’s spark

And ponder how you dare the dark.

 

Your song strikes deep; it fills my mind!

New knowledge of your folk I find.

No stranger music have I known

As Durin wakes and walks alone.

I learn of craft, and gems, and runes

Through echoes of the ancient tunes

Dwarf-minstrels on their harps would play -

The world was fair, in Durin's day!

 

We see the record of your kin,

Their bravery revealed within

Its pages - bloodstained, burned and ripped -

Some written in an Elvish script!

Their bones lie in the Dwarrowdelf

And history repeats itself.

 

You linger by Lord Balin’s tomb

While enemies around us loom.

As i attempt to pull you free

Your sorrow settles over me.

We cower before Durin’s Bane -

That evil is awake, again!

For our escape, Mithrandir falls.

New darkness dwells in Durin’s halls.

 

Now fire-demons haunt our dreams

More hopeless, now, our journey seems.

Yet, as you stoop to Mirrormere,

The sunken stars may still appear.

We know not how this story ends

But - as he wished - let us be friends!

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Chapter End Notes

The idea for this came from a discussion at Alliance of Arda, and the suggestion that Gimli's song would have had an impact on Legolas - something I'd never considered before!