Queen Berúthiel

by Alasse Merenrel-(TV)

Far away and long ago
Lay a woman at ship’s prow
Thin and pale, weak and sore
Shoulders hunched with what she bore

Cursed was she with silent grief
Cursed with fear that tortured sleep
Cursed regret of times long gone
Cursed for deeds that she had done

Woven lies and webs of hate
Palace court to city gate
All she knew and all she heard
Scandal, rumor, all she learned

Cats she used to search, to spy
Ten she had to nose and pry
Agents dark and sly as night
All were black, except one white

Through the city streets they crept
Black ones going right and left
Listening softly, peeking in
White one watching, stalking them

Long did she keep spying on
Long did she keep doing wrong
She knew not her end was near
She knew not her end was here

Late she saw her wickedness
Late, her case now pitiless
Late, cried she as she sailed away
Banned forever and a day

Lost her crown, her love, her life
Loss now cut her like a knife
Blade that slowly sliced her heart
Spirit whittled, hope now dark

Past all Gondor, past the land
Past the South and all its sand
Past the Umbar, to the sea
To the place her grave would be

One by one her cats all died
She alone was left to sigh
Left alone to cry and wail
The fate of Queen Berúthiel