The Dunadan

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees
The moon a grey ship sailing upon silver seas
The track a ribbon of moonlight over the forest floor
And the Dunadan came riding
Riding, riding
The Dunadan came riding up to Arwen’s door.

His dark cloak covered his forehead, stubble furred his chin
A tunic – dark to conceal him, a jerkin of brown doe skin
They fitted with barely a wrinkle, his boots were up to his thigh
And he rode with barely a tinkle, his sword hilt all a-twinkle
His dagger’s blade a-twinkle, under the darkest sky.

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed into Rivendell’s yard
As he rapped with his sword on the shutter but all was locked and barred
He sung in sindarin to the window and who should be waiting there
But the elf lord’s black eyed daughter
Arwen the elf lord’s daughter
Plating shimmering threads into her long black hair.

And dark and cold in the yard an oaken tree beam creaked
Where Legolas sat listening, his face tear streaked
His eyes were hollows of water, his hair like fresh cut hay
But he loved the elf lord’s daughter
The elf lord’s black haired daughter
So dumb as a dog he listened and heard the ranger say:

One kiss my sweet Undomiel, I’m after a prize tonight
But I shall be back with orcen heads before the morning light
Yet if the press me sharply and harry me through the day
Then look for me by moonlight
Sing for me by starlight
I’ll come to thee by moonlight
Though sauron should bar the way.

He stood upright in the stirrups, t’was easy to reach her hand
But she reached out o’er the casement, his face burnt like a brand
As the glorious lips met his he felt dancing in his breast
And he kissed her lips in the moonlight
Oh those sweet red lips in the moonlight
Then he flicked his reins and galloped far into the west.

He did not show at the dawning, nor did he come at noon
And out of the bloody sunset before the peak of the moon
An orc legion came marching
Marching, marching
Sauron’s men came marching into Rivendell’s court.

They said no word to the elf lord, they stole his ale instead
They gagged his black haired daughter and tied her to her bed
Two of them knelt at the casement, archers at theirs side
There was death at every window
And hell in one dark window
For Arwen could see through the casement the path that he would ride.

They tied her to attention with many a sniggering jest
The bound a rapier beside her the blade pressed to her neck.
Now keep good watch and they kissed her
She heard the dead man say
Look for me by moonlight
Sing for me by starlight
I’ll come to thee by moonlight
Though sauron should bar the way.

She twister her arms behind her, but the knots were fast and good
She twisted until each finger was wet with sweat or blood
She strained and starched in the darkness, the hours crawled by like years
Till now on the stroke of midnight, dark on the stroke of midnight
The tip of a finger brushed it, the hilt at last was hers
The tip of a finger touched it, she strove no more for the rest.

Up she stood to attention the rapier at her neck
She would not risk their hearing, she would not reach again
For the road lay dark in the moonlight, dark an bare in the moonlight
And the blood of her heart in the moonlight throbbed to her loves refrain.

Clip clop had they heard it? The hoof beats were not all clear
Clip clop clip clop in the distance were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the shimmer of moonlight
The Dunadan came riding
Riding, riding
The orcs looked to their priming, she stood up tall and still.

Clip clop in the frosty silence, clip clop in the echoing night
Closer he came and closer, her face was like a light
Her eyes grew wide for a moment, she drew one last deep breath
Then her finger moved in the moonlight
Her rapier shattered the starlight
Shattered her neck in the moonlight, and warned him with
Her death.

He turned and he sped for the westward, he knew not who stood
Bowed with her head on the rapier drowned in her own blood
His face grew white to hear how Arwen the elf lord’s daughter
The elf lord’s dark eyed daughter
Had watched for him in the moonlight and died in the darkness there.

Back he spurred like a nasgul, cursing earth and sky
With the leaf strewn track smoking, Anduril brandished high
Blood red were his spurs in the sunlight, black was his travel stained cloak
When they shot him down on the highway
Down like a dog on the highway
And he lay in his blood on the highway an arrow lodged in his throat.

And still of a winters night they say, when the wind howls in the tress
When the moon is a grey ship sailing silver seas
When the track is a shimmer of moonlight across the forest floor
The Dunadan comes riding
Riding, riding
The Dunadan comes riding up to Arwen’s door.

Over the cobbles he clatters and clashes into Rivendell’s yard
he raps with his sword on the shutters, but all is locked and barred
in sindarin he sings to the window, and who should be waiting there
but Arwen the elf lord’s daughter
the elf lord’s black eyed daughter
plaiting shimmering threads into her long black hair.