March 25, 2011 ~ 'Eagles to Ithilien', plus widescreen caps.
~*~
I couldn't celebrate the anniversary of the fall of Barad-dûr without a positive end note. Here is the last of the three anniversary posts. In this poem, jan-u-wine imagines Frodo, semi-conscious, literally transported, as he and Sam are rescued by the eagles, carried to the safe haven of Ithilien.
To set off the piece, I made some new screencaps of Frodo being borne by the eagles. These were made from the standard widescreen edition of ROTK EE. Thank you, Blossom, for advice on better tweaking screencaps.
~*~
The book scene, from The Field of Cormallen:
And so it was that Gwaihir saw them with his keen far-seeing eyes, as down the wild wind he came, and daring the great peril of the skies he circled in the air: two small dark figures, forlorn, hand in hand upon a little hill, while the world shook under them, and gasped, and rivers of fire drew near. And even as he espied them and came swooping down, he saw them fall, worn out, or choked with fumes and heat, or stricken down by despair at last, hiding their eyes from death.
Side by side they lay; and down swept Gwaihir, and down came Landroval and Meneldor the swift; and in a dream, not knowing what fate had befallen them, the wanderers were lifted up and borne far away out of the darkness and the fire.
Eagles to Ithilien
The Eagles.
They are coming.
My spirit flees from dark ruin and bitter pain...
Pain.....
loss....
My loss....
his loss....
They are lost.
The World is empty, changed...
lost,
forever......
The Eagles......
softly, on winds from another spring,
the sweet voice of bells on Elven harness finds me....
Far-off, as one who dremes, I see the small blue eye of the Sea.
An Age of starless night takes me.......
Voices..... tears....
Laughter.
How long since I have heard aught, felt aught but the evil which contained me?
Behind the curtain of my eyes, gentle Spring smiles.
Am I.....
Are
we
truly here?
I cannot look away from the sight of your living face.
There are no words I can thank you with,
and so, simply, I kneel by you, as you by me, on many a sleepless, thankless, starless night,
watching, content, your hand in mine, until you wake at last.
This time, it shall be my happy task to tell you: we are safe.... we are Home.
Previous Frodo entries:
~ March 25 Anniversary: "Naked in the Dark", with painting by Tim Kirk.
~ March 23: "Report From the Road", with painting by Anke Eissmann.