Under Ancient Stars by amyfortuna

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B2MeM Prompt and Path: Major Life Changes, Red Path
Format: Poem
Genre: Character Study
Rating: T
Warnings: None
Characters: Tom Bombadil, Morgoth
Pairings: none
Summary: Tom Bombadil has a terrifying encounter with Melkor that changes him forever. A poem he didn’t recite for Frodo & company.

Under ancient stars, woodlands slept
And yet still a watch I kept,
For grievous woe the world has known,
From its first beginning sown.
Riders, you encountered, Black,
And evaded their attack.
A Rider I too once met
Long before the Seas were bent.
This was no Oromë with hunting horn
He was a stranger, dark, forlorn
Vast in shape, a chaotic storm
A bolt of lightning given form.

The Children in their eastern lands
Starstruck held each others' hands
As I here in this western wood
Put forth power, all I could.
Safely kept this land must be
For Elves to travel to the Sea,
And mortals venturing west to find
Their friends, the Elvenkind.
And little hobbits, also, seeking
Paths where they can safe be creeping.

I stood up to the Dark One, alone
For this land I held my own.
"In this land I am the master!"
I said. "Go you, Melkor, all the faster!
These trees, these hills shall march against you,
These running rivers overcome you,
These thorns, they shall rip and rend you,
And no one in this land shall mend you!"
The Dark Lord laughed with bitter scorn
"More little hills my feet have torn
Than are your ken, your fragile keep!
Keep your hills, your trees, your sheep!
To this land may you be bound
Until all the lands have drowned,
'Til dark and silent lies the earth
And everything of any worth
Is mine -- the spirit and the Flame --
Until the stars repeat my name!"

So saying, he then ventured on,
Eastward passed, and then was gone.
Here in this place I now abide
And so I shall until the tide
Wipes out every hill and tree.
When they are gone, so shall I be.