(My unsactioned completion of J.R.R. Tolkien’s short, three verse version in the Lord of the Rings.)
Gil-galad was an elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing;
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea.
His sword was long, his lance was keen.
His shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven’s field
were mirrored in his silver shield.
But long ago he rode away,
and where he dwelleth none can say;
for into darkness fell his star
in Mordor where the shadows are.
The King of Men Elendil came
tall he was with sword of flame.
Honest, brave, and righteous he
a Numenorean from the sea.
Alliance made in Middle-earth
a chance for men to show their worth,
countless thousands clad in armor bright
with swords and arrows wrought to fight.
The Elves and Men they fought so brave
against the orc, the Dark Lord’s slave.
For seven years Elendil and Gil-galad
trapped their cunning foe within his land.
Until the day when Sauron’s wrath
brought him to the plain of Gorgoroth.
Brave Gil-galad he rode to meet him there
And challenged his foe, for he had no fear.
His flashing steel, his flowing mail
withstood the Dark Lord’s evil flail.
Aeglos his spear did inflict wounds upon
The still living flesh of black Sauron.
Elendil with rage and fury, flew
to aid his elvish ally drew
his sword Narsil, The Sun and Moon,
and upon the Dark Lord, he did hewn.
But shining Gil-galad, his body burned
by the evil hands that he had spurned,
in battle now a falling star in flaming, great.
A spirit in the Halls of Mandos now to wait.
So fell Elendil too, his Narsil broken.
To Elendil’s son, it was more than token
a blade still sharp, the enemy at his feet;
Sauron, less one finger, suffered his defeat.
Gil-galad was an elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing;
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea.
For within the dreams of men and elves
in memory long where no shadow delves
he still stands mighty, tall, and fair
and the wind blows through his flaxen hair.
The Numinous Cosmos 