Ainulindalë drabble

[altariel]

I finally got it done, only five months late.



Ainulindalë

And so we sang, in unison, for we were instruments.
I raised my voice, and made the music I was made to make;
Soared, raged, cried;
Others heard, and gave me their accord—
Were silenced.

And so, what had we sung?
Crash of iron, breath of air, echo of water—
Call of darkness.
Instruments, we made the music we were made to make,
And we are bound to it.

And so we sang.
Mountains raised, I flattened them;
Smooth green fields, I sharpened them;
Point counterpoint.
And so we sing,
And this is Arda, nor am
I out of it.

Mine.

Comments

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

Oh, beautiful. I love the clear tone and precision of it. The play on words in 'sharpened' and 'flattened' is clever without being required to understand the lines, since they work perfectly in their literal sense - a bonus, I guess :)

I'd never have called this a drabble. Was it written for the HASA challenge? It seems a work its own right, rather than a 'version' of the chapter, and much more substantial than a prose drabble in the sense that poetry is more packed that prose. I hope you post it as a poem :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I am absolutely chuffed to bits that you liked this. Thank you.

It was indeed written for the HASA drabble challenges (although it's actually 101 words). Going for a summary version of the chapter would have made it very dry, I think - although it does follow some of the narrative of the Ainulindalë.

I've taken the plunge and posted it on ff.net as poetry, in the Silm section. (My attempts at poetry are still in single figures. I'm always astonished when I produce a piece of poetry. And I never thought I'd write free verse.)