Odola
Well-Known Member
In my work on my own Tolkien fanfic I naturally try to include songs and I noticed how one ended by accident like a human reponse to the Elvish "O Elbereth hymn" - which was not intended but just came about this way. Some here might find this interesting - to see how it unintentionally became a sort of Mannish foil to the Elbereth hymn. As I said the parallel was no intended and I noticed it only much later after the song was completed.
It seem if one tries to play by the rules Tolkien set up one ends up with arifacts which - at least in some parts - will mirror his ideas.
So here the context - it is intended to be sung by a Haradian/Avarin half-elf who ended up in Valinor not wholly deliberatelly and is resentfull of being stuck there and prevented to return. He was born and raised in Harad, this was his mother culture while he currently is in confrontation with the surrounding elvish cultures.
The hymn is to Arien - of course, as Men are the Children of the Sun, after all - he is singing while he is in own his small boat sailing the Shadowy Seas between Toll Eressea and Valinor proper and watching the sun set over the Pelori.
Arien is called "Shamshantie" in the song based on Akkadian šanšāntu https://www.assyrianlanguages.org/akkadian/dosearch.php?searchkey=7303&language=id - based on Tolkien's idea of having Men originate in the equivalent of later Mesopotamia. (And Akkadians would not blame anybody for cultural appropiation as they are long gone, so their word stems are safe to use as a basis for further linguistic development.)
Text is mine, in the Suno version linked below the music is of course Suno - I am not musically gifted in any way.
Shamshantie, light-footed, fair bearer of flame!
O Maid of the Powers, dear friend unto Men!
Thy gold stains the ridges of Shadowy Seas,
Where no Man ever ventured ere I strayed off here.
In shade didst thou find me, yet callest to me.
Shamshantie, flame-keeper, shine down on my way!
May thy radiant fire undimmed forever stay!
Not in worship, but to greet thee, aloud do I cry!
As my mother’s tribe dried white salt in thy scorching rays,
Their songs rose like incense into the high skies.
To them thou wert hope and a bringer of day;
To me, thou art brightness that never shall wane!
Shamshantie, flame-keeper, shine down on my way!
May thy radiant fire undimmed forever stay!
Far away have I drifted from Harad’s wild shores,
Where young men sang to thee at every dusk’s fall,
And old women blessed thee, their worn hands aloft.
Now I cross dusky waters no Man ever rowed,
Yet thy fingers’ keen glow kin-like blesses my brow.
Shamshantie, flame-keeper, shine down on my way!
May thy radiant fire undimmed forever stay!
O Shamshantie, thou dwellest on high,
Yet I turn to thee, as a child faces dawn,
Not to claim thee, but to feel thy warm smile.
What mortal dares name thee a fellow or peer?
Yet thou shinest on prince or an exile the same.
O heraldess, departing beyond the world’s edge,
Leave thou not in silence! O, hearken my praise!
Thou goest where all light wanes over Uttermost West.
See that I sail on still! Let my longing not fail!
And await I shall yet the return of thy blaze!
Here a Suno version:
It seem if one tries to play by the rules Tolkien set up one ends up with arifacts which - at least in some parts - will mirror his ideas.
So here the context - it is intended to be sung by a Haradian/Avarin half-elf who ended up in Valinor not wholly deliberatelly and is resentfull of being stuck there and prevented to return. He was born and raised in Harad, this was his mother culture while he currently is in confrontation with the surrounding elvish cultures.
The hymn is to Arien - of course, as Men are the Children of the Sun, after all - he is singing while he is in own his small boat sailing the Shadowy Seas between Toll Eressea and Valinor proper and watching the sun set over the Pelori.
Arien is called "Shamshantie" in the song based on Akkadian šanšāntu https://www.assyrianlanguages.org/akkadian/dosearch.php?searchkey=7303&language=id - based on Tolkien's idea of having Men originate in the equivalent of later Mesopotamia. (And Akkadians would not blame anybody for cultural appropiation as they are long gone, so their word stems are safe to use as a basis for further linguistic development.)
Text is mine, in the Suno version linked below the music is of course Suno - I am not musically gifted in any way.
Shamshantie, light-footed, fair bearer of flame!
O Maid of the Powers, dear friend unto Men!
Thy gold stains the ridges of Shadowy Seas,
Where no Man ever ventured ere I strayed off here.
In shade didst thou find me, yet callest to me.
Shamshantie, flame-keeper, shine down on my way!
May thy radiant fire undimmed forever stay!
Not in worship, but to greet thee, aloud do I cry!
As my mother’s tribe dried white salt in thy scorching rays,
Their songs rose like incense into the high skies.
To them thou wert hope and a bringer of day;
To me, thou art brightness that never shall wane!
Shamshantie, flame-keeper, shine down on my way!
May thy radiant fire undimmed forever stay!
Far away have I drifted from Harad’s wild shores,
Where young men sang to thee at every dusk’s fall,
And old women blessed thee, their worn hands aloft.
Now I cross dusky waters no Man ever rowed,
Yet thy fingers’ keen glow kin-like blesses my brow.
Shamshantie, flame-keeper, shine down on my way!
May thy radiant fire undimmed forever stay!
O Shamshantie, thou dwellest on high,
Yet I turn to thee, as a child faces dawn,
Not to claim thee, but to feel thy warm smile.
What mortal dares name thee a fellow or peer?
Yet thou shinest on prince or an exile the same.
O heraldess, departing beyond the world’s edge,
Leave thou not in silence! O, hearken my praise!
Thou goest where all light wanes over Uttermost West.
See that I sail on still! Let my longing not fail!
And await I shall yet the return of thy blaze!
Here a Suno version:
