Why Do the White Gulls Cry?
Under leaves of the forests of Middle-earth
The sun shone bright on the land of your birth;
But you heeded it not for your heart had turned
And you looked to the sea for which you yearned.
O why do the white gulls cry?
For what does your heart sigh?
And why do they wail
When the grey ships set sail?
O why do the white gulls cry?
How did they turn your heart with a song?
Did you really change or did you yearn all along?
Did they sing to you of peace and sleep
On Western Shores where none now weep?
Has your weary heart of these lands grown tired
And to sail, sail away, is all you desire?
O why do the white gulls cry?
Where does your heart lie?
And why do you weep
As they sing softly of sleep?
O why do the white gulls cry?
Has your heart grown tired of grass and the trees
And is comforted only by the sand of the seas?
On the Winds of the West they their sad songs weave
And reaching you here have caused you to greive.
Flying and weaving, crying and wailing
On the Great Sea a grey ship is sailing.
What do they say to your weary mind
To cause you to sail and leave this behind?
O what do the white gulls cry
To your heart not born to die?
And what did they say
On that one fateful day
When you heard the cries of the gulls on the shore
And your heart was content in the forest no more?
O Greenleaf where have you gone?
Have you heeded their mournful song?
Have you left this shore forevermore?
Do you laugh on the sands of Valinor?
Have your faltering feet found rest at last
On the shores of the sea so great, so vast?
O why do the white gulls cry
As they wing in the lonely sky?
And why do you breathe with a shuddering sigh?
What had caused your flame of life to die?
On mortal lands the leaves are falling.
Can you still hear the white gulls calling?
There on the Thither Shore are they flying?
Are the sea-birds still crying?
O why do the white gulls cry
Over lands not born to die?
Do they still pierce your heart and rend it in two?
Are ghosts and shades still haunting you?
O why do the white gulls cry
To your heart not born to die?
And what did they say
On that one fateful day
When they stole your heart away?