2

Such lissom limbs no more shall run

on the green earth beneath the sun;

so fair a maid no more shall be

from dawn to dusk, from sun to sea.

Her robe was blue as summer skies,

but grey as evening were her eyes;

her mantle sewn with lilies fair,

but dark as shadow was her hair.

Her feet were swift as bird on wing,

her laughter merry as the spring;

the slender willow, the bowing reed,

the fragrance of a flowering mead,

the light upon the leaves of trees,

the voice of water, more then these

her beauty was and blissfulness,

her glory and her loveliness.

She dwelt in the enchanted land

while elven-might yet held in hand

the woven woods of Doriath:

none ever thither found the path

unbidden, none the forest-eaves

dared pass, or stir the listening leaves.

To North there lay a land of dread,

3

Dungortheb where all ways were dead

in hills of shadow bleak and cold;

beyond was Deadly Nightshade's hold

in Taur-nu-Fuin's fastness grim,

where sun was sick and moon was dim.

To South the wide earth unexplored;

to West the ancient Ocean roared,

unsailed and shoreless, wide and wild;

to East in peaks of blue were piled,

in silence folded, mist-enfurled,

the mountains of the outer world.

Thus Thingol in his dolven hall

amid the Thousand Caverns tall

of Menegroth as king abode:

to him there led no mortal road.

Beside him sat his deathless queen,

fair Melian, and wove unseen

nets of enchantment round his throne,

and spells were laid on tree and stone:

sharp was his sword and high his helm,

the king of beech and oak and elm.

When grass was green and leaves were long,

when finch and mavis sang their song,

there under bough and under sun

in shadow and in light would run

fair Lúthien the elven-maid,

dancing in dell and grassy glade.