A Place to Call Home

I found this lovely poem on Fanfiction.net yesterday, and I just had to post it here (with the author's permission, of course). It is a poem from Gimli's point of view, musing on the glittering caves beneath Helm's Deep. It's so rare to find good poetry that moves the heart to wonder and lets you see the beauty it describes; and, best of all, it rhymes and has a good rhythmic flow to it. So, here it is:

A Place to Call Home

by Kara's Aunty

'Twas on the day the Wall was blown

My eyes the joy of light were shown

As Horsemen fought their lands to save

There I beheld a wondrous cave!

Amidst the gore of battle fierce

Its beauty bright my heart did pierce

Beyond Deep walls by orc defiled

Its beauty ran untamed and wild

At battle's end when all lay still

This Dwarf returned to take his fill

Of columns yellow, white and rose

Ebony pools in sweet repose

Great caverns stretched both far and tall

And crystals lit the polished wall

With ceilings high and flowing air

Its beauty was beyond compare

Oh brilliant light! Beauteous gleam!

Bewitching sight! Enchanted dream!

Whose fair walls shine with gems and ore

These Dwarven eyes thy halls adore!

There is no land of Men so fair

As what my eyes have seen in there

No Moria, no Rivendell

Could e'er ensnare my heart so well

No golden hall with gilded dome

Could e'er aspire to be my home

For peace and joy my soul has found

In Nature's garden under ground

Her flowers line the soil of wall

Their colours bright the eye enthral

Her vines be sprawling veins of gold

That warm the heart when day is cold

Her silent lakes be pools of dew

Serene and calm their waters true

Her caverns deep within the earth

Give weary feet a homely berth

Oh splendour pure! Delightful place!

Enticing lure! Unrivalled grace!

Whose glory none could e'er ignore

I name thee home for ever more!

Now Elves may tend their forests green

And Nature's blessings may be seen

Wherever they imbue the grace

That lingers in their song's embrace

But Dwarven touch may too be kind

In passages that roll and wind

Beneath the mountain obdurate

Our hands may tend and cultivate

And mayhap Men may till their land

To see it flourish by their hand

Reward of all their hardened toil

May soon be seen on fertile soil

But Dwarven hands may labour too

In places where no others do

In stone and rock our fingers sow

As Dwarven lamps set caves aglow

Oh mighty halls! Glorious scene!

Bejewelled walls! Alluring sheen!

Whose beauty makes my spirit sing

No other home such joy could bring!

 http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4979097/1/A_Place_to_call_Home