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.

Other Links:

~ All entries featuring jan-u-wine's poems.