XV. The Fourth Lament: Of Thoranrai for Her Brothers

Thoranrai, Nanalon's daughter,
Fairer was than any woman
Walking under vaulted starlight
In those days when fairer women
Lived, before the world grew tired.

Thoranrai, Nanalon's daughter,
Long in solitude had waited—
Waited for her absent brothers.
But her heart foreboded evil,
Evil dreams at night had plagued her.

Up she rose from her bed of sorrow,
Took a mantle clear as starlight,
Clasped it round her lissome shoulders,
Barefoot trod the ancient flagstones
Of the hall of Mighty Sencan.

In her mantle, barefoot treading,
Thoranrai, Nanalon's daughter,
Mounted up the holy summit
Of the Hill of Orusena--
Stepped upon the Holy Hilltop.

Barefoot came that star-eyed princess
To the pool which ancient Stone Kings
Tended until Orusena
With a spear of shining copper
Slew the serpent, cleansed the waters.

There a priestess, gray-eyed, ancient,
Stood and tended starry waters,
Tended pool with net of silver,
Cleansed and hallowed with her singing
Soft and drowsy in the darkness.

Soft and drowsy in the darkness
Sang the Priestess, three times walking
Round the well, and sang of waters
Far away, the Sea forbidden
Washing rocks of sun-bleached Feihoth:

Washing sun-bleached bones of Feihoth
On the Isle where once the ancient
Folk of Starland made their dwelling.
Heaven's wrath rose up to purge it.
Pure it stands again--but empty.

Thoranrai, most fair of maidens,
Stood beside the sacred waters
Gazing deeply, speaking nothing,
Silent, pleading for her brothers.
Gray-eyed Priestess marked it, saying:

"Thoranrai, Nanalon's daughter,
Tell me of thy heavy burden.
Seldom do the feet of Princess
Come unto the sacred waters
While the moon is high in heaven."

"Gray-eyed Priestess," said Thoranrai,
"Speak I now, my heart unburden:
The mighty sons of sad Nanalon
I fear are lost to Sun or Starlight
O’er the East a mist a mist is fallen.

But according to the usage of the Red Isle, the Lament is begun from this verse, when it is sung with the other Laments.

“The strength and beauty of their father,
Ill-fated sons of sad Nanalon;
In the mines of blackest torment
The Nalshbo sing a song of gladness,
Gloating greedy o’er our downfall.

“Never let the sun at morning
Shine upon those barren valleys.
Never let the rains of summer
Bring them life or joy of harvest—
For they have swallowed up my heart.

“On the misty Northern moorlands
There the enemy set ambush.
There was Teithbor, warrior mighty,
Not anointed with costly oil,
Nor his hands washed clean at even.

“Teithbor bathed in blood of foemen—
Made a wall of corpses round him.
There did Sanur, tall and princely,
Wield a spear instead of scepter.
Now he rules over corpses.

“May the Silver Hunter, shining,
Never to those Northern moorlands
Bring the joy of light to lovers.
Smite those land, O Silver Hunter
For they have swallowed up my joy.

“Swift as a falcon was Setela,
Tall as a cedar of the forest.
Mightiest among the hunters
Who were walking Under Starlight.
Now he hunts among the shadows.

“Now he hunts among the shadows
Gathered round the Stone of Judgment
Where are writ the Laws of Heaven—
Things which were, or are, or must be.
There he hunts amid the shadows.

“Let the larders then be barren
Of the hunters of the Northlands.
Never let them hear the thunder
Of the horns, or bloodhounds baying—
For they have swallowed up my hope.

“Who will stand against the shadow
Of the eastern hills, and save us?
Who now will oppose the Captain
Of the Mines of Endless Torment
Now that all our hopes have fallen?

“Fallen hopes and fallen princes—
Fallen too is old Nanalon.
He has fallen into sorrow.
On an island sits Thoranrai
Alone amid a sea of tears.”