The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor

(Image: 'Ungoliant and the Two Trees' by Ted Nasmith)

A! the Trees of Light,     tall and shapely,

gold and silver,     more glorious than the sun,

than the moon more magical,     o'er the meads of the Gods

their fragrant frith     and flowerladen

gardens gleaming,     once gladly shone.

In death they are darkened,     they drop their leaves

from blackened branches     bled by Morgoth

and Ungoliant the grim     the Gloomweaver.

In spider's form     despair and shadow

a shuddering fear     and shapeless night

she weaves in a web     of winding venom

that is black and breathless.     Their branches fail,

the light and laughter     of their leaves are quenched.

Mirk goes marching,     mists of blackness,

through the halls of the Mighty     hushed and empty,

the gates of the Gods     are in gloom mantled.

J.R.R. Tolkien

“The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor”

(lines 1 to 16)

The Lays of Beleriand (1985)