The song of the sea

Sydney February 2013 – October 2014 (5 photos)

Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Water is the driving force of all nature“.

His words are true. Water is essential. The race of Men find it irresistible. I see it in the eyes and hearts of Men.

They flock to it. They live it. They love it. They desire it.

Without fail, their gaze wonders and wanders across bodies of water, ever dreaming, ever hoping …

I have seen this all before. Many years ago, when I was but a young dragon, my great friend, Legolas would stare out to sea and I would listen to his song. I can still hear him now:

To the Sea, to the Sea! The white gulls are crying, The wind is blowing, and the white foam is flying. West, west away, the round sun is falling. Grey ship, grey ship, do you hear them calling, The voices of my people that have gone before me? I will leave, I will leave the woods that bore me; For our days are ending and our years failing. I will pass the wide waters lonely sailing. Long are the waves on the Last Shore falling, Sweet are the voices in the Lost Isle calling, In Eressëa, in Elvenhome that no man can discover, Where the leaves fall not: land of my people for ever!

Legolas’ Song of the Sea (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings)

“And then as the Darkness lifted across the land, I could not help but sense the great sadness to come. My dear friends, the wood elves, ever enchanted by the sea, would succumb to their desires and the forces of nature. In the weeks after the fall of Sauron and the destruction of the One Ring, they answered the call of the Valar and sailed the seas to Valinor in the west, never to be seen again. I watched them sail away from the Grey Havens in their ships. I still miss them greatly.”

…extract from “Time and Tide: Reminiscences of a Wood Dragon” (yet to be published).