The Two Towers (in verse)

THE TWO TOWERS (IN VERSE)

This poem is based on Peter Jackson’s film interpretation of Tolkien’s story.

The snow capped mountains stood inert,
While echoing the sound,
Of a mighty battle being fought,
In Moria, Underground.

The balrog, wrapped in smoke and flame,
Gandalf, clutching staff,
Struck the bridge between them both,
And cried ‘YOU SHALL NOT PASS!’
The dreadful creature took a step,
Was halted in its tracks,
As a fissure appeared in the stoney bridge,
And it fell to the abyss black.
But then its fire whip lashed out,
Caught Gandalf in its grip,
“Run, you fools”, were his final words,
And after that he slipped.
Tumbling down, they fought and fought,
And fell into a lake…

(Image from vsbattles.wikia.com)
Suddenly Frodo was awake,
Of Gandalf, he had dreamed,
But the reality that he now saw,
Was the real nightmare, it seemed.
For he and Sam were in desolate lands,
Quite lost…and were not alone.

That night they slept uncomfortably,
No pillows for them, but stone,
And stealthily above them,
Even as they slept,
Lured by the evil Ring,
A gangling creature crept,
“They took my precious, yes they did”,
Gollum sullenly cussed,
“They stole it, nasty hobitses!
“They dared to steal from us!”
And Oh! The ring was within his reach,
He could take it at a stroke,
But Samwise Gamgee with senses keen,
Suddenly awoke.
Gollum lept and fought with him,
With fists and biting jaw,
‘Til Frodo held Sting at his throat,
“You have met this blade before!,
Let Sam go this instant,
Or I will end your schemes!”

(Image from lotr.wikia.com)
loosely bound with Elvish rope,
Gollum writhed and screamed,
Every orc would hear this row,
Before too long, it seemed,
Gollum could not be trusted,
Yet he alone could take,
Sam and Frodo safely through,
On to the Black Gate.

The Uruk Hai bore prizes,
Two friends of Frodo and Sam,
Pippin And Merry, captured and bound,
On the way to Saruman,
Yet hope was not quite lost for them,
Because, from dusk to dawn,
The Uruk hai were followed,
By the ranger, Aragorn.
With Legolas and Gimli,
They ran for three days straight,
Until at last they reached the lands,
Of the Riders of Rohan.

A warring army was being prepared,
By the wizard, Saruman.
“The forests will burn,
And industry,
Shall arise from our two powers,
The armies of Sauron and Saruman,
The union of Two Towers,
Barad Dur and Orthanc,
Shall rule this Middle Earth,
We need only remove those wretched men,
Whose lives have little worth”.

His evil minions like locusts fell,
On villages, soon wrecked…

With his horsemen, Eomer,
A Rider of Rohan crept,
On a pile of fallen comrades,
And a cry so full of dread,
From one of them then rang out clear,
“They have near killed Theodred!”,
The stricken son was taken back,
To Theoden the King,

“Why these troubles must you bring,
To a sick and troubled man”?
So spake Wormtongue,
A wretched spy,
In service to Saruman.
Theoden was under the spell,
Of the Wizard, his will not free,
Eomer was banished, for all eternity.

(Image from fan.theonering.net)
Gimli, Legolas, Aragorn,
Saw riders on the way,
The horsemen surrounded them with spears,
“What business have you? Say!”
The threesome told of their captured friends,
And the hunt for the Uruk-Hai,
Eomer told them dreadful news,
“We killed them, by and by,
We slaughtered all that were with them,
Were they killed by our hand?
Look for your friends, do not trust to hope,
For it forsook these lands”.

On horses given by Eomer,
The sorry threesome raced,
Until they found an awful scene,
And all hope seemed erased,
The Uruk-Hai lay slaughtered,
And Hobbit evidence found,
And yet…not dead, just missing!
Aragorn studied the ground,
He found tracks of a struggle,
‘Tween Orc and Uruk-Hai,
“Into the forest of Fangorn,
It seems our friends did fly”.

Pip and Merry,
Pursued by Orc,
Ran into the forest, hasty.
Both climbing up into a tree,
In a bid to seek some safety,
With great surprise, the tree awoke,
Over the Orc it reared,
It was not a tree, but an ancient Ent,
Whose name, they found, was Treebeard,
“You may be orcs, you may be not,
But which of that is right?
Only one can tell me this,
And that is the Wizard White”,
Merry and Pippin grimly thought,
They were to meet Saruman.

(Image from fan.theonering.net)
Gollum lead both Frodo and Sam,
To Dead Marshes where there lay,
The bodies of men from long ago,
All rotten since they were slain,
Gollum warned not to fall in else,
They too would light a flame,
For the marshes were full of little lights,
Of the hapless the Dead had claimed.
Alas, Frodo enchanted now,
Fell headlong in a pool,
Ghostly figures loomed O’er head,
But from a fate so cruel,
Frodo then was rescued,
By Gollum, from his plight.

In that dank and desolate place,
They slept and in the night,
Frodo woke, heard Gollum speak,
To himself and Frodo asked,
“Were you perhaps, not unlike me,
In some dim and distant past,
Perhaps you’ve forgotten…Smeagol”,
Gollum with widened eyes,
“What name did you call me?”
But then, from in the skies,
They heard a cry, an evil sound,
So indescribably cruel,
“Oh hide, oh hide”, Gollum implored,
“We are hunted by Nazgul!”
As the Nazgul flew above,
Frodo felt the ring,
Growing in its power,
Oh, how it weakened him!
He felt the wound from the Rider King,
He got on Weathertop,
Throb with every Nazgul cry,
But then it mercifully stopped,
The Nazgul flapped its leathery wing,
And soon the Rider was gone.

Deep within the forest of Fangorn,
Crept the three,
Gimli, Legolas, Aragorn,
It seemed those ancient trees,
Were speaking, watching, waiting,
As the three of them encroaches,
“I sense that we are not alone,
The Wizard White approaches”,
Legolas warned his fellow men.
“He will try to cast a spell”,
Aragorn warned the three of them,
Alas they were powerless,
Against the wizards power,
And yet it turned to be untrue,
That this was their final hour,
For the Wizard was not Saruman,
But Gandalf restored anew,
“I fought the Balrog on mountain top,
Now I return to you”.

But while this news was good indeed,
Not so for Frodo, Sam,
They finally had reached the gate,
And it seemed they were but damned,
On a quest with hopeless goals,
For how could they aspire,
To sneak on past Great Sauron’s eye,
Lidless on its spire?
There was no way through the black gate,
Of the land of Barad Dur,
“There is another way in there”,
From Gollum, this was heard.

Gandalf ‘s whistle, carried by wind,
Was answered by the tracks,
Of swift, fleetfooted, galloping hooves,
Of a horse called Shadowfax.
He would not permit a saddle,
For he was Lord of Horses,
But he bid the wizard ride him,
And so they set their courses,
For Theoden, the King.

“Late is the hour, this wizard comes,
Ill news I deem you bring”.
Wormtoungue sat by the king’s right hand,
And Gandalf raised his staff,
“Why did you disobey my command,
I commanded, take that staff”,
Wormtongue asked of the Rohan men,
But Gandalf spoke up then,
“Silence! I fought not fire and death,
To bandy words with you.
Arise, my dear friend, Theoden King,
Be the man that I once knew!”.

Wormtongue now was banished,
He fled to Saruman,
Who he told about a ring he saw,
Upon the Ranger’s hand,
“So Gandalf thinks that he has found,
The heir of Isildur,
That line was broken long ago,
Gandalf is a witless cur!”

Theoden King ordered his people,
To head to Helms deep fort,
But Saruman knew of this scheme,
And so they would be caught.
He ordered the release,
Of Warg Riders, to hunt his prey,

Sam and Frodo ate rabbit stew,
That Gollum caught that day,
Yet Gollum could not eat it,
“Fat Hobbit!”, he did say,
“You ruin lovely rabbitses,
What do you do this for?
Give me none of your nasty chips!,
Give me fishes, wriggling and raw”.

But then they heard the sound,
Of an army looming near,
Spying then, upon a ridge,
What should then appear,
But an Oliphaunt, an Oliphaunt!
Which Sam gazed on with wonder,
Then arrows flew from over head,
And Sam and Frodo blundered,
Into a group of other men.
The Rohan folk their way did whend,
And Eodred to Eowyn,
Talked about her father,
And of times long gone when,
Aragorn had fought with him,
And her grandfather before,
For he had been blessed with long life,
A descendent of Numenor.

Aragorn’s mind lost in a dream,
Of Arwen, how in times past,
Her father Elrond told her,
“Your love for him can’t last.
Even if all that you desire,
All that you hope comes true,
Aragorn would come to death,
As mortal men must do.
He will lie in the image of a king,
In glory set in stone.
And you dear daughter, oh your fate,
Shall be to walk alone.
You will become a shadow.
Do as all elves before,
Bare you love for him away,
To the eternal shore!”

As Aragorn walked and saw this dream,
A Rohan voice did yell.
“The enemy is here”, he screamed,
And on swift beasts so fell,
They swarmed like ants on army march,
And soon would meet his men.
Who would help the womenfolk?
The king asked Eowen.
“Lead these folk to safety,
Take them to helms Deep!”
“No I can stay with you and fight”,
Eowen beseeched.
But for her no honour would she gain,
No battle would she see,
Eodred told her once again,
“To Helms Deep you must flee”,
And the last she saw was Aragorn,
So noble on his horse.
To the approaching enemy,
With sword, he set his course.

The Rohan men fought gallantly,
And victory was swift,
But a Warg had captured Aragorn,
And both fell from a cliff.

The children and the womenfolk,
At last could see Helms Deep,
And with its stoney walls invoked,
A safety they could keep.
But when the king at last arrived,
He had ill news to tell,
Not many others had survived,
And Aragorn, he fell.

(Image from polycount.com)
Now, Helms Deep was a mighty fort,
Its wall was thick and high,
But it had one small weakness,
That Wormtongue once had spied.
And now he stood with Saruman,
Who strangely did aspire,
To bring the wall a-tumbling down,
“Stone undone by fire?
What magic can do such a deed,
And even if it true,
No army but ten-thousand strong,
Could hope to break on through.
There is no army of this kind!”

But Saruman then out did stride,
And outside of Orthanc,
Wormtongue looked with shock and awe,
On rank on rank on rank,
Of battle-hardened Uruk-Hai
Ten thousand strong were they,
And Saruman addressed that host,
“Now go to war, I say!
There will be no dawn for men”.

Aragorn, found by Equine friend,
Had washed up on a shore.
And in his mind he saw a dream,
Of times from long before.
He saw the Lorien elven queen,
The lady Galadriel.
“Frodo’s quest will claim his life,
This fact you know full well.
And what of the alliance ‘tween man and elf,
To eternal shores we fly.
But do we leave them to their fate,
Alone must mankind die?”

Now Frodo and Sam,
Were captured by,
A man named Faramir,
Who now gazed down upon a map,
“The enemy now draws near.
Sauron's blow will come down hard,
And Gondor swift must fall,
And Saruman strikes from Isengard,
What hope is there at all?”

Faramir questioned Frodo, Sam,
“I say you are Orc spy!”
Frodo said “We’re shire folk,
No orc are he and I.
And once we walked with men like you,
Their names I still hold dear.
A mighty man of Gondor, one,
His name was Boromir”.

(Image from Lotr.wikia.com)
Now Faramir, he knew that name,
You see, he was no other,
Than kindred to brave Boromir,
He was his little brother.
And looking back on days gone by,
When Osgiliath once fell,
But then reclaimed by Boromir,
How clearly did he yell!
“Let every enemy hear my words,
This town is theirs no more!
I claim it back, I say it’s ours,
I say in the name of Gondor!”

A happy host with tankards of ale,
Their victory did toast.
“Where is my brave, my firstborn son,
The one I love the most?”
Walking up to the brothers two,
A man now stood before.
He was the father of those men,
And his name was Denethor.
Now victory, thought Boromir,
Was Faramir’s too to savour.
But sadly of his younger child,
Denethor had ill favour.
“Do not trouble me with him,
His uses they are few.
Come! I say I have heard news,
That I must tell to you.
Elrond, so the people say,
Whose rumours do abound,
Has announced a secret meeting,
For The Weapon has been found.
I say you go to Rivendell,
And bring me back this ring.
In Gondor we will keep it.”

Upon a rock did sing,
Gollum in a moonlit pool,
He dived in oh so swift,
And caught between his needle teeth,
He came up with a fish.
Now singing happily on stone,
He bit into his prey.

“To enter the forbidden pool,
Means death, so our laws say”.
Faramir with Frodo stood,
On high above a cliff.
“I only have to give the word,
And death will come down swift.
My archers have him in his sights,
And wait for my command”.
But Frodo, pity filled his heart,
“I beg you, stay your hand!”
He went down to where Gollum sat,
“Come with me!”, cried.
But Gollum was captured by those men,
They flung his form inside.

Cowering in a corner,
Gollum lay and muttered.
“Tricksy Hobbit stole from us”,
Those were the words he uttered.
“We would ring its filthy neck,
If Smeagol would but let us,
How dare he steal our ring from us,
How DARE he take my Precious!”.

Frodo and Sam, for now alone,
Had one way to be free.
If Frodo would but wear the ring,
And turn invisibly.
But mighty had its power grown,
And Frodo gave a cry,
“If I should wear that ring, my friend,
The evil, Lidless eye.
Would seek me out, would find me here,
I cannot face his stare!”

“So now all is revealed to me,
Of truth, I’m now aware”.
Faramir stood over them,
He held his sword in hand.
“I have the Ring within my grasp,
An army, I command”.
And Sam cried, “Won’t you let us go,
The two of us aspire,
To take this Ring to Mountain Doom,
And throw it in the Fire.”
But the ring, it spoke to Faramir,
Of Victory in War.
“I shall bring with me a Kingly gift,
The Ring shall go to Gondor”.

While he spoke of battles to be,
Aragorn did ride,
And over the horizon, he,
Saw many Uruk-Hai.
They marched in tens of thousands,
Much havoc would they reap,
So Aragorn urged his steed be swift,
And headed to Helms Deep.
There he stood before the King,
And told him news so ill.
“There is an army coming here,
One simply bred to kill.
I saw the marching uruk-Hai,
The troops of Saruman.
That army has one purpose,
To spell the end of Man”.

Preparing for the battle,
Each man who could bare arms,
Was ordered to the armory,
By Theoden King’s command.
But no hardened army, they,
As legolas well knew,
Most had seen too many years,
Others, far too few.
“These are old men,
Or tender youth,
Farmers, blacksmiths and such,
There are no soldiers trained to wield,
A sword with deadly touch.
I see the fear reflected,
In the dim light of their eyes,
Aragon! They cannot win,
As you must realise”.

“Then I shall die as one of them”
Was Aragon’s retort.

Now while Helm’s Deep prepared for war,
And Sam and Frodo caught,
What became of those Hobbits two,
Who last time, much distraught,
Ran to Fangorn forest to be captured by an Ent?
They befriended Treebeard,
And in a forest clearing,
Emerging from the trees they saw,
Other Ents appearing.
These shepherds of the forest,
Were meeting so to plan,
If they would need to go to war,
And battle Saruman.
But Ents see time in ways that we,
Would seldom think to do,
Like trees they are not hasty,
So slowly their plans grew,
And so the day turned into night,
No plan was formulated.

Were the men of Helm’s Deep,
To find themselves soon fated?
Aragon could see that aid,
For them was sorely needed,
And so he spoke with Theoden,
“Get Gondor’s help”, he pleaded.
The King, his face was grimly set,
“They will not help, I’ve learned.
For where was Gondor’s army,
When our villages were burned?
We’re not so lucky in our friends,
Who would rush to our defence,
We must fight the enemy and die,
And in remembrance,
The records shall tell of Rohan’s stand,
And the bravery of they,
Who stood before the teeth of death,
Yet did not turn away”.

But then the sound did echo,
A horn was ringing clear.
And yet it was no Orc horn,
Or the Uruk-hai they feared.
The elves had come to Rohan’s aid,
With archers trained and ready.
Homage to the past they paid,
When man and elf stood steady,
And both had fought together,
As told, from days of yore.
“We elves are proud to stand by you,
And fight with men once more!”.

In Helm’s Deep night had fallen,
And through the pouring rain,
Each man to the horizon,
His sight was surely trained,
It was glowing with the fire,
Of countless glowing torches,
And with the tramping march of feet,
Their enemy, it marches.
A sound of rolling thunder,
And lightning tore the sky,
And in that eerie light they saw,
Ten thousand Uruk-hai.
Below them stood that army,
The battle had begun.
“Show them not your mercy,
For they would give you none!”
So Aragon commanded,
To his people strong and brave.
Then as if a sea-tossed storm,
Delivering a wave,
The Uruk-Hai surged its way,
Onrushing to the wall,
“Elves, fire your arrows!”,
The leader of them called.
Swift and true were arrows shot
And Uruk-Hai they speared,
But many thousands more they missed,
As Aragon had feared.
With ladders made to scale that wall,
The Uruk-hai ascended.
With swords the Rohan met them all,
Invasion soon was ended.
King Theoden he looked upon,
The army stuck outside.
For him the hopelessness was gone,
His thoughts were filled with pride.
“Send your army, Saruman,
Send every one and all.
For there’s no power that can breach,
The Helm’s Deep outer wall!”

(Image from Lotr.wikia.com)
But running to the drain below,
The fighting Uruk-hai,
They planted Saruman’s device,
And Aragon did spy,
That one of them did wield a flame,
“You archers, bring him down!”
The arrows pierced that Uruk-hai,
For the elves had great renown,
But fearlessly ignoring pain,
That warrior ran on,
It through itself upon the wall,
And BOOM! The wall was gone.

“They must have thought of something now,
Of that I am quite sure”,
Said Merry of the Entish moot,
The plan to go to war.
But Treebeard’s news was not quite so,
“This fight Orthanc tower,
We’re not involved in this you know,
This fight is man’s not ours”.
But Meriadoc his face was grim,
His voice full of derision.
“But we are all part of this world,
That can’t be your decision!”.

Pippin took his friend aside,
“Merry don’t you see?
This battle’s not for you and I,
Nor shepherds of the trees.
What can we do in the end,
We battles we aspire?
No army-hardened men are we,
We are folks from the Shire”.
But Merry saw the future,
Should Saruman win through,
All the forests would he burn,
And soon the Shire too.

As Treebeard took the Hobbits to,
A place to make their way,
With shock his eyes then looked upon,
What devastation lay.
So many trees had fallen,
In Orthanc fires raged.
“All these trees they were my friends,
From nut until old age.
A wizard should know better,
There is no curse that ran,
In elvish, Ent or tongues of men,
For such as Saruman!”.
The trees of Fangorn forest shook,
As never had before.
The Ents at last had found their strength,
The Ents were off to war!

Now while the Helm’s Deep wall was breached,
And Ents walked warlike paths,
Sam and Frodo and the Ring,
Came to Osgiliath.
Farimir, oh let us go,
The enemy draws near.
You do know know the truth about,
Your brother Boromir.
He swore to help us, don’t you see?
And yet the ring corrupted he,
It drove your brother mad!”
Samwise begged with Farimir,
For Frodo’s liberation.
And then the sky was shattered with,
A cry of lamentation.
“The Nazgul! It has found us!”,
The fear ran through them deep.

The Uruk-Hai now swarmed inside,
And soon would take the keep.
A mighty ram was slamming,
As if all hope was torn,
And in the rising of the Sun,
That heralded the dawn,
Aragon stood with the King,
“We face their fell devices,
Now let us ride and meet the foe,
Ere the sun rises!”.
On mighty steed they galloped on,
Their swords were wielded true,
And there on the horizon,
Gandalf stood in view.
On Shadowfax with staff in hand,
With men of Ridermark,
He held a white light in his hand,
As if to banish dark.
The wizard and his army,
They galloped swift and hard.

The hobbits and the Ents,
Now marched on Isengard.
They had such strength among them,
It would have made you shiver,
They tore the Uruk-hai in two,
And then released the river,
Kept away from Orthanc,
By the work of Saruman,
A mighty river held in check,
By a monumental dam.
And now the Ents they tore it down,
It rushed on fast and hard,
A cleansing torrent sent to wash,
The fifth of Isengard.

But what of Saruman,
Bereft now of the ranks,
Of tens of thousand Uruk-Hai,
He still was in Orthanc.
And down below what treats were found,
By Pippin, what relief!
A storehouse filled with fruit and veg,
And much Longbottom leaf!
A barrel each for hobbits who,
Just love to smoke that weed,
It was a fitting end for all,
That fighting, yes indeed!

But what about poor Frodo,
Last seen in fate so cruel?
The evil ring commanded he,
Should stand before the Nazgul.
For it had just this single aim,
To find its way to master,
The ring was close to Sauron’s grasp,
The world, near to disaster.
But Samwise Gamgee brought him back,
From the final tragic end.
The ring it still remained with him,
That Hobbit and his friend.

And so it was that Farimir,
Saw what his brother missed.
He could not take the ring and hope,
To wield it as if his.
And so he let the Hobbits go,
With Gollum at their side,
For still they needed all his help,
He was their only guide.

And now does Gollum walk along,
To mutter words of dread.
“The precious, yes, it would be ours,
If only they were dead.
I shall lead them to the winding stair,
The tunnel, take them through it.
I do not need to kill them for…..

I’m certain SHE would do it”.