despair not! For though dark they stand,
all woods there be must end at last,
and see the open sun go past:
the setting sun, the rising sun,
the day's end or the day begun.
For east or west all woods must fail ..."
and light shine through the wooded vale.
Sometimes I cannot see beyond.
It's dark ahead, the journey long,
but even in the darkest night
the stars are high and shine so bright.
For beauty stretches on and on.
The Shadow cannot touch the sun.
For east or west all woods must fail
and light shine through the wooded vale.
For your King shall come again.
You will dwell with him and then,
the everlasting songs you'll sing
forever, always with the King.
For he has made the Shadow naught
and triumphed o'er the dark it wrought.
For east or west all woods must fail
and light shine through the wooded vale.
So when you wander near or far,
look up to the Evening Star.
And if you're lost among the trees,
remember that beyond the leaves
open sky and open fields
will forever be revealed.
For east or west all woods must fail
and light shine through the wooded vale.
I wrote this for my Tolkien colloquium. The first part of the first stanza, in quotes, is Tolkien's. I was inspired by that portion of the song and another quote from ROTK.
"There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
It's just so easy to look around me and see the darkness that fills this world. But there is light too. And this Light will overcome the darkness.
