I keep realising my level of nerd is greater than I think. So, what do I do for lunch? Listen to youtube/watch?v=ia5c7EawMtQ while reading the poem that inspired it. The City of Present Sorrow - J. R. R. Tolkein From The Book of Lost Tales 2 Chaper IV: The History of Eriol or Ælfwine There is a city that far distant lies And a vale outcarven in forgotten days – There wider was the grass, and the lofty elms more rare; The river-sense was heavy in the lowland air. There many willows changed the aspect of the earth and skies Where feeding brooks wound in by sluggish ways, And down the margin of the sailing Thames Around his broad old bosom their old stems Were bound, and subtle shades lay on his streams Where their grey leaves adroop o’er silver pools Did knit a coverlet like shimmering jewels Of blue and misty green and filtering gleams. O agéd city of all too brief sojourn, I see thy clustered windows each one burn With lamps and candles of departed men. The misty stars thy crown, the night thy dress, Most peerless-magical thou dost possess My heart, and old days come to life again; Old mornings dawn, or darkened evenings bring The same old twilight noises from the town. Thou hast the very core of longing and delight, To thee my spirit dances oft in sleep Along thy grey streets, or down A little lamplit alley-way at night – Thinking no more of cities it has known, Forgetting for a while the tree-girt keep, And town of dreams, where men no longer sing. For thy heart knows, and thou shedst many tears For all sorrow of these evil years. Thy thousand pinnacles and fretted spires Are lit with echoes and lambent fires Of many companies of bells that ring Rousing pale visions of majestic days The windy years have strewn down different ways; And in thy walls still doth thy spirit sing Songs of old memory amid thy present tears, Or hope of days to come half-sad with many fears. Lo! Though along thy paths no laughter runs While war untimely takes thy many sons, No tide of evil can thy glory drown Robed in sad majesty, the stars thy crown.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 19:15:39 +0000