Caverns full of mithril mines
Caverns closing out the skies
Opportunities, immense
Blocking forest, trees so dense
Caverns, to conceal fell deeds
Caverns dark, where evil feeds
Caverns deep, to navigate
The Fellowship, arriving late
Caverns deep, to lay in wait
The one they cannot anticipate
Gates to keep out thieving hands
Gates that will allow in friends
In days of old, an age long passed here
By Silverfist and Dwarven master
Gates, to keep vengeful foes away
Gates, protecting Orcs another day
Gates, locking heroes out
The Fellowship begins to doubt
Gates, locking evil in
In flame and shadow, Morgoth’s sin
Value of precious treasures within
Value of a challenge so alien
Hewn by Dwarves, aided by Elves
Where Durin himself often delves
Value, for such a fine, kingly home
Value, for such vastness in which to roam
Value, to complete their quest
The fellowship will not rest
Value, to remain asleep
Safe in darkness, shrouded deep
Death of kinsmen, their bones lie here
Death of friendship, once so dear
A rift between two races of Arda
Hard to tell which blow was harder
Death, they make such contribution
Death, to be paid with retribution
Death evaded, by a mithril shirt
The Fellowship worries that Frodo is hurt
Death invaded, and now lives here
But the concept of its own death not clear
Answers now to Balin’s fate
Answers to the passworded gate
Such a place of doom and wealth
Not a place for any elf
Answers, soon after Pippin’s noise
Answers, that Orcs are only decoys
Answers, of the love of friends
The Fellowship very nearly ends
Answers, when the demon and Gandalf die
Now on to Lorien, you fools – fly!
Story Notes:
Written for B2MEM 2010 : Mountains of Shadow. Choose a location in Arda and write down five defining traits of that place. Now create a story, poem, or artwork in which you show how that location influenced the lives of the people in and around it.
Author's Chapter Notes:
The challenge was “Choose a location in Arda and write down five defining traits of that place. Now create a story, poem, or artwork in which you show how that location influenced the lives of the people in and around it.” For this piece, we chose Moria, and came up with the following five items: Cavernous; Protected (gated); Treasure (value); Hides secrets and contains answers; Dangerous/Death. Then, we chose five groups affected by Moria: Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, the Fellowship, and the Balrog.
Each section is written so that the first four lines dealt with the Dwarves and Elves, which we decided were in a way intertwined in this endeavor. The next two are for the Orcs, the following for the Fellowship, and the final two for the Balrog. We wrote this over dinner, passing the notebook across the table back and forth. I highly suggest; was a fun method of writing! (Also, we were having dinner out, at a place with a kid’s area that has a big curved blackboard for them to draw on. As we were writing, one of the little girls announced to the other kids ‘Now I am going to draw a Hobbit house. I know what they look like. I saw them on TV.’ and followed through on her promise. And a very nice Hobbit house it was. For my part, I giggled like a fool.)