It's Durin's Day!

Thanks to Jeff Murray for the reminder via Facebook.

 

 Durin by J.R.R. Tolkien

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 along.
He named the nameless hills and delles;
He drank from yet untasted wells;
He stopped 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 Elder Days before the fall
Of mighty kings in Nargothrond
And Gondolin, who now beyond
The Western Seas 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 roof and silver floor,
And runes of power upon the door.
The light of sun and star and moon
In shining lamps of crystal hewn
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night
There shown 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 mountain 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-dum.
But still the sunken stars appear
In dark and windless Mirrormere;
There lies his crown in water deep.
Till Durin wakes again from sleep.

Comments

[The Pachyderminator]

Tim, does this blog still exist, if you know what I mean? I understand that you've given up blogging regularly, and you know if that was the right decision to make. However, it seems to me that this blog is an attempt to do something good and worthwhile, and I would hate to see it abandoned. Have you ever thought getting a few like-minded people together and making TLBC a group blog? I know I'm not the only one who would like to see that. You had a good core of readers in the old days and I'm confident the number would grow.

[Tim J.]

Yes, Pachy old-loyal-bearded-friend, the TLBC blog does exist, and will exist. For reasons I find hard to articulate right now, it has been in a coma (as you have noticed) for months, but I had neither the means to revive it, nor the heart to pull the plug - or hold a pillow firmly over its metaphorical face until it stopped squirming.

My apologies to everyone who has been puzzled, disappointed, or even angry at the lack of response, of late.

The group blog concept has been tossed around before, and sounds amazing... but there was little actual response. The whole idea of TLBC was very "group-y"... its about camraderie... friends celebrating the work and friendships of some great Catholic (and one very-nearly Catholic) authors.

I will be *tickled* to look into the process of adding you as an author, if you like. That would be tremendous.

[The Pachyderminator]

Tim, I've sent you a follow-up email.

[The Pachyderminator]

Tolkien reading the poem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGBL74mvPy4

[The Pachyderminator]

Colin Rudd's version is nice too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pISzxdEgDCU