I wander 'neath the fading trees
That once comprised the Golden Wood.
The sunlight filters through the boughs
Where once the mighty mellyrn stood.
Back home in Gondor songs are sung
Of the Elf-queen's realm of old.
They always held me captive
And filled my heart with leaves of gold.
"'Tis no more than a minstrel's tale"
Is the view most people hold.
But I always listened eagerly
To all that I was told.
I had to know, so I set out
And in some days from then
I came to the wood that was
Once fair Lothlórien.
The Lady Galadriel once lived here
Together with the Lord Celeborn
My ancestors they, if the tales be true
For I am of the line of King Aragorn.
Now that I am here, I doubt not the tales
Yet my coming I almost regret
For such a sadness and longing I feel:
The trees do not so soon forget.
They have not forgotten the light
That once lit them, nor the sound
Of fair elven voices singing that
Merrily filled the air all round.
Now I've reached the land's center,
The epitome of the mournful air.
An open space, and to my left
Crowned with trees a hill stands there.
'Tis said that once fair flowers grew
On Cerin Amroth's lawn.
The pale niphredil as moonbeams bloomed,
And elanor sprang up as golden as the dawn.
But no such flowers do I see now
As I make my way up the hill.
But wait, what is that? Can it be?
The thought gives my heart a thrill.
Is that a glimmer of gold I see?
I hurry towards the spot.
It is, indeed, one lonely blossom
Of elanor, as lovely as I'd always thought.
This must be the last resting place
Of Queen Arwen Evenstar,
For the legends say she sought this place
After the death of King Elessar.
How fitting that the last bloom
Of the golden elanor
Would grow upon her grave
As if to show her honor.
I continue to the top of the mound
To what was Caras Galadhon,
But I can't stay long; it makes me too sad
This land's days are over and gone.
I'll head for home now;
I've found what I sought.
The Elves all sailed across the sea
But I wish now they had not.
I wander 'neath the fading trees-
They were not so always,
But the world has lost its last stronghold
Of the beauty of the Elder Days.
