I
Mighty wert the ships
Of brave Nioclás the Ship-Wise,
Ne’er didst he use tricks
Nor by surprise
Didst he gain his ships,
All by war wert they his prize,
Many the conflicts
He won thereafter under the skies,
There above the seas’ e’ery rise,
From port to port, and at e’ery high tides’
Waves, his name they do whisper still,
So that every gill
And every bill,
Thereupon every crest, rise and hill,
Dost know his name,
Thereupon the isles know him and his mane,
Such was his fame and his valour,
He who was neither ordinary, nor dour,
Nor of a nature that might relent,
How could they e’er forget?
By way of the islet
Of steel, he was let
Into the mount,
That some call’d the fount
Of the fey,
Therein the light of day,
That he might find his way,
And cease to bray
For blood as for gold,
He the most bold
Of sailors, he who
All still scream, lo!
Behold terror’s fount!
There where the ship must round,
Stands to this day, that which only the long shadow’s
Shade dared challenge, in the cliffs’ hollows
Where shade meets light,
And where it is ne’er bright,
By sword as by steed,
O’er isle and reed,
This islet the shade
Didst conquer, and bade
His own, ere he didst bid fare well
That he might go dwell
Thereon better land,
And try his hand
At conquest of more than mere islet,
Beauteous as a cloth dipped in violet
Was the high mount upon which the keep abode,
That he reach’d by the ship he rode,
Lo! Neither in this century,
Nor the next,
Might men place a sentry
Without cause to tremble,
Such be the terror of that hill,
That they still retch,
And hold themselves perfectly still,
It was thereupon the highest-rock
That Eldrogar the Tall, built more than a mill,
Down into the earth, below where birds flock,
A thousand tunnels he dug
Through earth and rock,
E’er deeper, blessed by faith as by luck,
Through wintry winds and bog,
Many journey’d, to reach glittering halls,
Such that bright is their loch,
There where gold glimmers along the walls
They abode, and there they remain still
II
In olden days,
Many wert the ways,
In which the lays
Of truth sings and brays,
In the light of day,
He didst pay
Utmost attention to their sway,
Ne’er was he prone to betray
Or to make pay
Those he sailed day by day
Alongside, rather he didst allay
And soothe their every worry, ne’er once didst he dismay
His men, whom he didst dote upon and relay
Every comfort, trusted and ne’er didst betray,
Fierce as the winds,
That ne’er didst sing
Of aught else than the death of Kings,
By sea as by land, every gold ring
Lost to the waves which sings
Still and that all men knowing
That waves and wind, were guilty of seeking
In defiance and passion prone to deciding
Their fates, and was wholly willing
Though neither sailors, nor Nioclás possessing
Either suspicion or inkling,
That the winds might in giving
Way to betrayal, by nature determine
To crash ship and crew,
Neither by chance,
Nor by desire,
Didst Nioclás let his ship dance
Near the shore, having no wish to retire
From her, whether by blow of lance,
Or by voluntary wish,
Yet west-winds blew,
And the rocks the ship didst kiss,
Rocks that didst hew
Stern to bow until it and men didst hiss
Their last breaths,
Down in the sea-borne depths,
Stricken and a-fright,
Nioclás by islet way,
sought to escape his blight
Therein the midst of the storm swept day.
III
War in the mountains
As at sea the beast didst rage,
Near where land meets fountains,
The sorcerer didst wage,
Dark as night,
At his least most sage
Temper, the foulest war that didst blight
The skies, such was the rage,
That didst purple the seas and the night
Skies that all knew at once,
That so must end all delight,
For Naylrim the Fount
Of all that didst blight
The lands nearest the mount
And surrounding her great height,
At present was in a foul mood,
Elf and man wrought
Upon themselves sorrow,
Though relief they sought,
In defiance as by an arrow,
They might well liberate,
This they didst to narrow
The worst of suffering, in deliberate
Manner to avoid sorrow,
Their guilt boundless and hardly ridiculous,
Every brow thus didst furrow,
Nary a warrior prepared to participate,
In the battle to come, as every beast didst burrow
And fly whither, for fear the drake might eliminate
Them one and all, from peak to down below,
They didst sorrow the light of day discriminate,
Such was their fear that they didst yellow
And seek not to imitate
The corpses of yesteryear,
In this way, they might illuminate,
The dark in which fathers’ didst rear
Their sons each one Elf-born, for centuries didst ruminate
And learn to fear,
Until Nioclás arrived thereupon
Their shores,
Lo! Nioclás didst clamber
From sea to shore,
Just as day grew darker,
And gave way as might a boar
To a trail of mire and blood, after
It has run its tusks, into another,
To war he bound himself thereafter,
Against sea and the caves further
Up the slope, and up the stone hereafter
He climbed, and fought, ever higher!
Until to safety, and to Elvish helping hands
He arrived thither,
IV
Wars and flames didst visit,
And therein dark caverns pivot
All about ghastly halls,
Where the walls
Wert forged of spectral stones,
Topp’d with silverine domes,
Therein imperious corners,
All over the isle it roams,
The wicked beast ate builder and farmers
Alike, throughout the land it combs
In hopes of food and fodders,
That is all men and Elves seems
To old Naylrim, who slew many warriors
As he did those who occupy thrones,
Terror-fill’d, Nioclás trod
The darken’d path,
Ne’er far was his rod,
Arm’d also with righteous wrath,
His sword-arm didst throb
Such that Nioclás didst thrash
The drake all the more,
Didst seek to gnash
Its teeth upon the Elves’ in fuller
Days, just as it sought now to lash
And gnaw upon the people of the old lore,
Brave and fierce, Nioclás didst slash,
And didst bore
By blade as by spear stab,
This was done in days of yore,
Deep within the cave most drab,
Proof of it all stones bore,
Lo! To aid call’d the Elves,
Those who remain’d,
They who deep into caves delves,
And who wicked ways disdain’d,
Who in lofty places dwells,
To him they call’d forth,
After they had fed him forthwith,
That he might journey north,
To slay by their aid and support forthwith,
The beast that didst hound them,
From their sacred places,
Elf by either side,
Ne’er didst they ride
Far from reason,
Ne’er might he give way to treason,
Ne’er might he fly,
And leave newfound friends to die,
Pirate, sailor, hero he might be,
He could ne’er flee,
Such was the chivalry,
He abode by, this even in rivalry
His worst enemies credited him with,
So that he was no leaf
In the wind, to be blown about,
But rather than be a lout
He was a willow tree,
And thus didst defy and stand free,
No matter whether it be beast
Or man that didst seek to feast
Itself upon his flesh,
None could ever rest
So long as his wicked ways
Went on, there near the waves
And by the mountains,
V
Therein they sighted
The one who blighted
All of those who once delighted
In the land where many art slighted,
Three they wert who united
Sought to strike, and thus invited
The drake’s fury that enticed
All to blood and violence, all while flashes
Of fire and light lighted
Cavern halls, and burnt cavern walls, as it slashes
At men and Elves, who ne’er delighted
In its grief and pain as sword and tail lashes
Out at one another, until all felt properly blighted,
None could have sighted
All the wounds that united
Those present, so that all recited
The same oaths and curses, and indicted
The beast by sword as by righteous fury that ne’er divided,
In shadows as in light,
The demonic beast didst deliver a fright,
As it sought to blight
All who defied
He who resolved to alight
The fields aflame,
Ne’er didst Nioclás cast blame,
All who didst observe him, knew his fame
To be well-merited, and ne’er didst defame
His memory, such was his glory
That ne’er didst inspire fury,
His goodness e’er a cause for worry,
This in despite of piratical fury
That didst visit itself upon many unworthy men,
Just as Naylrim sought to rend
Limb by limb, the Mountains’ sons,
And he of the sea, before the rise of the suns’,
Nioclás Elf-friend and hero,
Mindful of oath and sorrows
Of those whom wert made widow
Within the ne’er narrow
Caverns, to claw and fangs,
Furious at his wounds,
By blade as by hands,
Naylrim cursed men, Elves and hounds,
Hounding them out of caves
Most dark and foul
Amidst rain and flames,
Loudly many didst howl,
VI
In the battle that followed,
Thereupon where the road narrowed,
When joy turn’d to ashes,
Both hero and rescued dashes,
Along the caverns
There where all darkens,
And where man and drake clashes,
Savage wert their many clashes,
And even more savagely wert its thrashes
Lo! How the beast hardens
The clash betwixt men and monster,
Taking to flight, as it might closer
Ever more so, as rain splatter’d,
Along sea-ravaged and drake shatter’d
Stones so that the heroes
Behaved as failed zeroes,
The mighty warrior-crowds,
So that the mountain he crowns,
With Nioclás’ friend’s corpse and drowns
Many a screams and accounts
Of courage so that accounts
Of Ophelius’ death resounds,
Tragedy dost abounds,
Sorrow without bounds,
Hunted as a kit by hounds,
Many wert his rebounds
Along stones,
Elves crushed underfoot along the stones,
So that all he did confounds
Those Elves who didst bounds
Amongst the ravine’s stones,
Tragedy abounded,
As Naylrim hounded
All from hearth and home,
Flames and foam
And thunderous bellows resounded,
From cavern to cavern so that they rebounded,
Endlessly astonished,
By Naylrim’s myriad cruelties that resounded
To the heavens and down into the foam,
Where the sirens’ keep their home,
VII
By narrow chance,
As in defiance of a lance
Shaped claw that didst prance
Through storm and didst advance
Along narrow passes,
Tail swagger’d and lashes,
At all who might dare the passes,
Elves of all classes,
Didst attempt defiance,
As much by virtue as in compliance
With virtue and by the guidance,
Of the man who stood tall as giants,
Far below high the high-pass,
Down by ravine crack,
Aiming between scaled brass,
His aim ne’er one to lack,
Nioclás didst by heroic dart,
As by noble heart,
Between mail most crass,
That dost lack,
Away flew the dart up the pass,
Ne’er gaining slack,
Whereupon Nioclás fled away alas,
Not all wert so fortunate after this attack,
And fell en masse
Down, down and ne’er abstract
In the grand fall,
Lo! The greatest victory,
Nioclás might well enjoy in history,
As by dart and trickery,
As by valour so that he became voluntary
Elf-friend and honorary
Warrior in their midst,
There where none had fits,
For his dart and sword that ne’er didst miss,
Lo! Nioclás the drake-slayer
The Ship-breaker,
The tale-maker,
He who was bearer
Of Ophellus’ bond and avenger
Of his death, and wearer
Of his circlet ever
Afterwards in days made darker
By piratical warriors
And their hunters,
Lo! Nioclás the pirate-hunter,
And most of all; Elf-Friend.
Tale-maker and Elf friend. Lovely!