To The Sea

Tonight Tolkiens' Lord of the Rings movie is on TV. Hilary and I went to see all three movies at the theatre, but they are so good I normally watch them again. The only thing missing in the movies, besides some of the story they could not pack into 3 hours...is the music, the poetry. So much of what makes the story is the poetry. Most are long, troubadour style, telling a story. I love those old poems. They make any story richer, and remind of us a day when there were not unlimited text messages. When language was king and stories were written in rhyme. When books were rare and not easy to access.

I love writing story songs. They are so fun to write. You must be brief, beautiful and descriptive. You must allude but not reveal. You must let your listener think for themselves.

This is a beautiful song referring to the elves and their longing for the sea. The sea for them meant the afterlife, so the song takes on a very wistful, mystical mood. Not really knowing what to expect, they only know where they are going.

To The Sea
copyright 2008 LeighAnn Heil
Based on 'Lord of the Rings' by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sweep the sky from the sun's first dawning
Hear the cry in a winter morning
Catch the echo from the long lochs walls
And feel the chill of those lonely calls..

To the Sea! To the Sea! the white gulls crying...
The wind it is blowing and the white foam flying
West! West, away! the round sun is falling
Gray ship, gray ship, do you hear them calling...

For our days are ending, and our years are failing...
I will pass wide water, Lonely sailing....

The road goes ever on and on..
Now far ahead the road has gone
Out from the door where it began
Let others follow it who can

To the Sea! To the Sea! the white gulls crying...
The wind it is blowing and the white foam flying
West! West, away! the round sun is falling
Gray ship, gray ship, do you hear them calling...

For our days are ending, and our years are failing...
I will pass wide water, Lonely sailing....

Still round the corner there may wait..
A new road or a secret gate
though often I have passed them by...
A day will come at last when I ....

Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the moon, east of the sun
In that far land beneath the trees
The starlight on the western seas.....

and long are the waves on the lost shore falling
sweet are the voices of the lost isle calling....

To the Sea! To the Sea! the white gulls crying...
The wind it is blowing and the white foam flying
West! West, away! the round sun is falling
Gray ship, gray ship, do you hear them calling...

For our days are ending, and our years are failing...
I will pass wide water, Lonely sailing....