Forgotten Ground Regained
Dear Tolkien Society
It would take talent for Tolkien’s dirge of Arthur and all the old knights of Camelot to receive the called-for response. Iits original pages rightly deserve — the ending of ages, the altar of metre receiving a sacred sacrifice of devotion like Old English, alliterate and paced.
It would take the team of the Tolkien estate agreeing together that greater things could arise rightly from a ready pupil, a published poet and pawn of the realm of the great and varied graves of scholars who studied the song, who savored Gondor, who shun Shelob and shake with anger at the mighty men molten Balrogs laid asunder in the lofty heights of the lowest dungeons and the lakes of ice.
It would take tomes of Tolkien’s notes and a steady hand, studying long, and ready to write a rendered ending deserved by the start, daring to finish what many missed, what most wanted, yet still has never starred on the listof finished tales, of reforged swords, that the master half-made before making a way to the pearly gates and the price of life. I would take the chance if you take me in.I would write the end of the ruined saga. I could give you the gold of the grave of the crown:
Pendragon’s poem I dare to complete.
Originally published in the Tales After Tolkien blog (guest post by Dennis W. Wise). Reprinted in Forgotten Ground Regained: A Journal of Alliterative Verse, New Series, issue 2, Spring, 2024.
Copyright © Lancelot Schaubert, 2024
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