The Lonely Isle [Dutch translation]

O glimmering island set sea-girdled and alone -

A gleam of white rock through a sunny haze;

O all ye hoary caverns ringing with the moan

Of long green waters in the southern bays;

Ye murmurous never-ceasing voices of the tide;

Ye plumèd foams wherein the shore and spirits ride;

Ye white birds flying from the whispering coast

And wailing conclaves of the silver shore,

Sea-voiced, sea-wingèd, lamentable host

Who cry about unharboured beaches evermore,

Who sadly whistling skim these waters grey

And wheel about my lonely outward way -

For me for ever they forbidden marge appears

A gleam of white rock over sundering seas,

And thou art crowned in glory through a mist of tears,

Thy shores all full of music, and thy lands of ease -

Old haunts of many children robed in flowers,

Until the sun pace down his arch of hours,

When in the silence fairies with a wistful heart

Dance to soft airs their harps and viols weave.

Down the great wastes and in gloom apart

I long for thee and thy fair citadel.

Where echoing through the lighted elms at eve

In a high inland tower there peals a bell:

O lonely, sparkling isle, farewell !

• Artist:J. R. R. Tolkien