O fading town upon an island hill
Old shadows linger in thine ancient gate
Thy robe is grey, thine old heart now is still
Thy towers silent in the mist await their crumbling end
While through the storeyed elms
The gliding black water leaves these inland realms
And slips between long meadows to sea
Still bearing downward over murmurous falls
One day, another to sea
And slowly thither many years have gone
All thy trees, Kortirion, were bent
And shook with sudden whispering lament
For passing were days and doomed the nights
When flittering ghost-moths round tapers in the moveless air
And doomed already were the radiant dawns
The odour and the noise of meads
All thy trees, Kortirion, were bent
And shook with sudden whispering lament
O fading town upon an island hill
Old shadows linger in thine ancient gate
Thy robe is grey, thine old heart now still
Thy towers silent in the mist await their crumbling end
And slips between long meadows to the sea
Still bearing downward over murmurous falls
One day and then another to the sea
And slowly thither many years have gone
And slips between long meadows
All thy trees, Kor, were bent
And shook with sudden whispering lament
For passing were the days and doomed were the nights
When flittering ghost-moths danced round red tapers and nighttime
And slips between long meadows to the sea
Still bearing downward over murmurous falls
One day and then another to the sea
And slowly thither many years have gone
Since first the elves here built
Then first the elves built here Kortirion
