The Passing of the Elven-Kind

[page 15] A song in the mode ann-thennath THE PASSING OF THE ELVEN-KIND Ted Johnstone O’er all the lands the fair folk trod, The final eventide has come, And those who wandered, silver-shod, Have faded from the changing land. The march of man has pushed them from Their forest lands and verdant sod Until at last they must succumb To forces they cannot withstand. No more the fair Galadrial Will sing in green Lothlórien; The empty halls of Rivendell, Deserted, silent, thick with dust, Recall the empty hours when They stood as lonely citadel Against the coming age of Men, But fell, as Elrond knew they must. The shadows of the fading age Grew long across the fields of gold; The Elven-lords each silent, sage, Had left the flow’ring mallorn trees. For them the world was growing old -- Though mankind saw a turning page -- The fair folk left their last freehold And passed beyond the Sundering Seas. And Círdan wrought them ships which bore Them from the Havens o'er the sea And watched them sail for fairer shore And leave the world of mortal man In which no place for them could be. And in this world they stay no more, But dwell in Elvenhome the Free, As fair as when the world began.