Strange that no one has thought of it before...

[Firefoot]

As of recently, I have a new favorite - I don't know if it counts but I really like the Lay of Leithian. A little bit too long to post here, but my favorite lines are:

And thus in anguish Beren paid
for that great doom upon him laid,
the deathless love of Luthien,
too fair for love of mortal men;
and in his doom was Luthien snared,
the deathless in his dying shared;
and fate them forged a binding chain
of living love and mortal pain.

[*Varda*]

One I've always liked is this, from Of Beren and Luthien

Farewell sweet earth and northern sky
for ever blest, since here did lie
and here with lissom limbs did run
beneath the Moon, beneath the Sun,
Luthien Tinuviel
more fair than mortal tongue can tell
Though all to ruin fell the world
and were dissolved and backward hurled
unmade into the old abyss
yet were its making good, for this -
the dusk, the dawn, the earth, the sea -
that Luthien for a time should be.

Saying this, I love just about all the poems in LotR and the Sil.

[Nimikôi Angarauko]

The world was young, the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,
No words were laid on stream or stone,
When Durin woke and walked alone,
He named the nameless hills and dells;
He drank from yet untasted wells;
He stooped and looked in Mirrormere,
And saw a crown of stars appear,
As gems upon a silver thread,
Above the shadow of his head.

The world was fair, the mountains tall,
In eldar days before the fall
Of mighty kings in Nargothrond
And Gondolin, who now beyond
The Western sea have passed away:
The world was fair in Durin's Day.

A king he was on carven throne
In many-pillared halls of stone
With golden rof and wilver floor,
And runes of power upon the door.
The light of the sun and star and moon
In shining lamps of crystal hewn
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night
There shone for ever fair and bright.

There hammer on the anvil smote,
There chisel clove, and graver wrote;
There forged was blade, and bound was hilt;
The delver mined, the mason built.
There beryl, pearl, and opal pale,
And metal wrought like fishes' mail,
Buckler and corslet, axe and sword,
And shining spears were laid in hoard.

Unwearied then were Durin's folk;
Beneath the mountains music woke:
The harpers harped, the minstrels sang,
And at the gates the trumpets rang.

The world is grey, the mountains old,
The forge's fire is ashen-cold;
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls:
The darkness dwells in Durin's halls;
The shadow lies upon his tomb
In Moria, in Khazad-Dûm.
But still the sunken star appear
In dark and windless Mirrormere;
There lies his crown in water deep,
Till Durin awakes again from sleep.

this poem always conveyed the sadness of those forgotten halls to me away

[Essex]

Zoe + Doug, you would love the 'Use well the days' song by Annie Lennox that uses the words from Frodo's last song you mention above. Mark12_30 found a link to an mpeg version of the song. It's quite brilliant. http://lotrscrapbook.bookloaf.net/ref/menu.html

Hannah, BBC Radio's adaptation of LOTR has some great music to Sam's song, In Western Lands beneath the Sun. Have a listen (if you get the new cd version it has a cd of all the songs seperatly)

Volraphion, the Fall of Gil-Galad song that Sam recites that you mention above goes like this:

Gil-galad was an Elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea.

His sword was long, his lance was keen,
his shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven's field
were mirrored in his silver shield.

But long ago he rode away,
and where he dwelleth none can say;
for into darkness fell his star
in Mordor where the shadows are.

Again, BBC Radio has a great version of this poem as a song.

but finally, who could forget Frodo's poem about the old man in a battered hat........

When evening in the Shire was grey
his footsteps on the Hill were heard;
before the dawn he went away
on journey long without a word.

From Wilderland to Western shore,
from northern waste to southern hill,
through dragon-lair and hidden door
and darkling woods he walked at will.

With Dwarf and Hobbit, Elves and Men,
with mortal and immortal folk,
with bird on bough and beast in den,
in their own secret tongues he spoke.

A deadly sword, a healing hand,
a back that bent beneath its load;
a trumpet-voice, a burning brand,
a weary pilgrim on the road.

A lord of wisdom throned he sat,
swift in anger, quick to laugh;
an old man in a battered hat
who leaned upon a thorny staff.

He stood upon the bridge alone
and Fire and Shadow both defied;
his staff was broken on the stone,
in Khazad-dûm his wisdom died.

And finally, Nimikôi, Gimli's poem you mention is one of my favourites. Have a listen to Gimli's recital on the BBC Radio adaptation. It is stunning.

PS No, I don't work for BBC Radio or take any cut in their profits!!!

[Nimikôi Angarauko]

do u know where i could get the poem, a recording that is, the only possible palce i can think of finding it is kazaa and i only want to use that as a last resort.

[Essex]

amazon.co.uk are doing the whole bbc adaptation for £50......

I think I have an mpeg creater bit of software on my pc. I'll try to copy the poem using that and send it to you, but don't hold your breath!

[Nimikôi Angarauko]

thanks ex and if u cant get it ill just download the full version and do a bit of slicing and pasting but if you could get it you would be in my debt for an age