by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Sweet and low, sweet and low,
Wind of the western sea,
Low, low, breathe and blow,
Wind of the western sea!
Over the rolling waters go,
Come from the dying moon, and blow,
Blow him again to me;
While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.
Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,
Father will come to thee soon;
Rest, rest, on mother’s breast,
Father will come to thee soon;
Father will come to his babe in the nest,
Silver sails all out of the west
Under the silver moon:
Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep.
* * *
I sang this lulluby to my little sister, and managed to get her down for a nap. When "All the Pretty Little Horses" fails, it's time to go back to the old masters. I sing it to a tune which is half "Eidelweiss" and half my own ad-libbing, but the baby likes it.
I've always liked this poem, though. The images of the wind blowing from the dying moon, the rolling waters, and the silver sails all out of the west (very Tolkienesque) give a dreamlike tone. It makes me miss people who aren't with me.
(I translated this poem into Sindarin once. It fits, wouldn't you say?)
If anyone has any more votes for the triolets, submit them now, because I'll be announcing the winners in a day or two.
4 comments:
Do you know Sindarin??????? Or was it in some appendix, or maybe a computer site?????
I really want to learn Sindarin, or Quenya I'm not particular as to which(: Well I want to but I'm not sure that I would have the patience(:
I forgot to say I really like the lullaby.
I learned Sindarin with the course on councilofelrond.com. You have to register to use the course, but they never spam you. It's a pretty abbreviated course, so you can go through it pretty fast, and then look up things as you need them. Basically, they have lessons that you read, and then you do the exercises, and a staff member comes along and checks them. (Yes, for free. I guess they're just happy to get to work with Tolkien's languages.) Both Sindarin and Quenya are available. I must warn you, though, that there's a lot of debate about different things in Sindarin, and that adds a level of confusion. That is also why it's hard to find a tutorial on Sindarin.
I'll try and dig up my Sindarin translation. It's not very good -- I'm better at Quenya -- but such as it is, I can post it.
I actually sang the song at my school's solo and ensemble contest in 7th grade. I loved the lilting tune that came with it.
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