O, Gondolin

A poem/song about Tolkien's White City of Gondolin Lyrics: [Verse] In elder days, ere moon was old, ere mortal crowns were cast in gold, there shone a vale beneath the snow where secret waters whispered low. [Verse] There white were wall and stair and spire, and fountains leapt like living fire; and harps were heard at morning’s rise beneath the clear unshadowed skies. [Verse] O Gondolin, O guarded stone, the eagle knew thy name alone; the mountains kept thee from the sea, and silence was thy sanctuary. [Verse] There silver rang on helm and mail, there banners stirred in mountain gale, and in the courts of hidden kings were wrought the songs of deathless things. [Verse] But far away the darkness heard the rumor of an Elven word; and hate that slept in iron halls awoke and looked toward hidden walls. [Verse] Then fire came down where fountains played, and night upon the white streets laid; the flower of all thy people fell beside the stair, beside the well. [Verse] No more thy bells at dawning call, no light returns to tower or wall; the valley keeps no voice of thine but wind among the broken pine. [Verse] Yet westward still, when stars are pale, the exiles sing beyond the vale, and sorrow, shaped by memory, becomes a lamp across the sea. [Outro] O Gondolin, O dream of stone, not wholly lost, though overthrown; for while one heart remembers thee, thy towers stand in melody.