A Fall in Gondolin
by Casey Jepson
© 2003


A green-eyed Elf lands sprawling on the path
In a pool of the blood of his hundred companions
An Orc arrow vibrates in his back
As if trying to get back out
He's staring into the face of his brother
Who stares back; neither blinking
The clashes and roars and splatters
Are drained from his ears
Like the blood from his heart
Orcs trample over him
Like Oliphaunts over the burning grass
Eveyone else is too busy to weep
Busy dying and killing and shredding and bleeding
Please let not the burning tower
Collapse to cover his limp form!
Let him not be buried by mess insurmountable
Let him rot under the stars
Ah, the stars, the only surviving witnesses
To the slaughter that is now forgotten
By those who fell in the fray
And now the blood dries up
The skin peels, the hair sheds
And his green eyes have become grey
His thoughts fly free from his mind
Through a vision I can't dare believe
Where Valinor has become a graveyard
Hundreds of thousands of shallow graves
In perfect formation
Here lies Finwe, Here lies Galadriel
Here lies every Quendi who stayed
Here lies every Noldor who returned
Here lies every Teleri from east to west
No bird sings, so beast runs
And the Gods spend their days plucking the grass
Till all that remains is dirt and stone
The Undyling Lands are dead!
In the green eyes of a fallen Elf
Who breathed his last breath
Forsaking glory in a fight to the death
May he rest in peace.



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