Ai Ithil! Or chîth hwiniol
vi Menel i thamas haered
bo vâd uial athradol
man hae pelil ennas cened?
Pelil cened an Neldoreth?
Lilthassen nef i hîr glavrol ...
Pelil cened na Doriath,
i arnad i Elu Thingol?
Pelil cened Beleriand?
O Hithlum ring na Forodwaith?
Na nan galen, Ossiriand:
pan i ennor in Elenwaith?
A cenil aen, Ithil sadar,
athan aear, ned Annûn fain?
I vardor idh rodyn aglar
a dhôr edhil telyg ammain?
Ennas dhôr hen, mellon anann,
vi Lórien, gelaidh olthar
vi 'wath ferin ah mallorn brann
lastol i merilin linnar?
Ae linnar aen, si hain linnar
na Melian, i rîn aglar?
Udul he ad na Valimar
ab Thingol gwannas i amar.
Min gelaidh ah lyth olthiel
merilin linnathar ammain,
or nen Lorellin miriel:
úlastathon, a Ithil vain.
~*~
A! Oh moon of silver light
high up in the sky tonight
gazing upon us from above
how far can you see from there?
Can you see the forest of Neldoreth
where once I danced to a pipe unseen
can you see all of Doriath
where Elu Thingol once was king?
Can you see all of Beleriand?
from cold Hithlum to green Ossiriand?
from West to East, from North to South
do your eyes encompass all that?
And can you see, Oh trusty Moon
across the Sea, into the West?
The land to where my people go
The land in which the Deathless dwell?
Somewhere there, Oh shining Moon,
there lies the wood of Lórien
where in the shade of twilight trees
the nightingales still sing?
And would perchance they sing today
to honor Melian the fair?
Returned she has to Lórien
when Elu left her side
Amidst the trees and Irmo's bloom
across Lorellin ever-sweet
Her singing sound forever there
but not to me, oh Moon so fair.
~*~
This text was written for a project by composer Arjan Kiel (
www.arjankiel.nl).
The project consists of a collection of (Sindarin and Quenya) elvish texts about the Ainulindalë - the opening part of the
Silmarillion - and will be put to music to be sung by a choir.
The texts are written at this moment by a group from the elvish language forum at
www.parendili.org/teithad
This poem is a song sung by Tinúviel after she and Beren had come back from Mandos.
The dwarves have revolted against Thingol and have slain him. After that, Melian went back to Valinor.
Lúthien Tinúviel lives with Beren in Tol Galen, and she
sang this on a night that she was outside and saw the full moon between
the branches of the trees. This reminds her of that time that she sang
(via the moon) to Elbereth before (the lines that are in the
Lay of Leithian):
Ir Ithil ammen Eruchin
menel-vîr síla diriel
si loth a galadh, lasto dîn!
A hîr Annûn, Gilthoniel,
le linnon, im Tinúviel!
The introduction is a bit similar but the rest is of course quite different.
