From silver trunk the golden leaf
Blows through the old abandoned fief,
For Time, the robber and the thief,
Has brought the hidden realm to grief:
……………..The wonder is withdrawn.
Now far beyond the Western Sea
The merry folk have gone to be
Naught but a fading memory
……………..In Caras Galadon.
For untold years Galadriel
Did weave her magic and her spell.
Nor warg nor orc nor dragon fell
Could enter the enchanted veil
Until it was withdrawn.
Now in the once protected Wood
The Evil mingles with the Good—
Foul things that never could have stood
……………..In Caras Galadon.
Now through the hushed and chilling air
There rings no voice of minstrel fair,
No melody of sweetness rare,
No magic words beyond compare;
……………..The music is withdrawn.
The happy sound of harper’s glee
……………..Sounds only far beyond the Sea.
The rasping raven’s symphony
……………..Fills Caras Galadon.
In Cerin Amroth, Arwen’s tomb
Lies hidden in the gathering gloom.
The niphredil no longer bloom.
She sleeps within that narrow room,
……………..All memory withdrawn.
The sons to Aragorn she bore:
They come to mourn her there no more.
They sleep beneath the marble floor
Of cold and deep Rath Dinen, far
……………..From Caras Galadon.
A lonely wanderer passes by;
He sees there is no shelter nigh.
The stars are twinkling in the sky.
He groans, and on the ground doth lie
……………..Within his cloak withdrawn.
The leaves are rustling on high.
It seems to him they softly sigh
A sad lament — he knows not why —
……………..In Caras Galadon.
Note: This poem is excerpted from Dr. Williams’s new book Stars through the Clouds: The Collected Poetry of
Donald T. Williams (Lantern Hollow Press, 2020) and is used here by permission.

Donald T. Williams, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Toccoa Falls College, has been slanderously identified as the author of The Devil’s Dictionary of the Christian Faith (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2008), a charge which he neither confirms nor denies. He is certainly the author of a dozen other books including Ninety-Five These for a New Reformation: A Road Map for Post-Evangelical Christianity (Semper Reformanda Publications, 2021), a serious book about theology which also keeps Screwtape up at night.
Citation Information
Donald T. Williams, “Loth Lorien,” An Unexpected Journal 3, no. 1. (Spring 2020), 141-144.
Direct Link: https://anunexpectedjournal.com/lothlorien/