O fading town upon an island hill Old shadows linger in thine ancient gate Thy robe is grey, thine old heart now is still Thy towers silent in the mist await their crumbling end While through the storeyed elms The gliding black water leaves these inland realms And slips between long meadows to sea Still bearing downward over murmurous falls One day, another to sea And slowly thither many years have gone All thy trees, Kortirion, were bent And shook with sudden whispering lament For passing were days and doomed the nights When flittering ghost-moths round tapers in the moveless air And doomed already were the radiant dawns The odour and the noise of meads All thy trees, Kortirion, were bent And shook with sudden whispering lament O fading town upon an island hill Old shadows linger in thine ancient gate Thy robe is grey, thine old heart now still Thy towers silent in the mist await their crumbling end And slips between long meadows to the sea Still bearing downward over murmurous falls One day and then another to the sea And slowly thither many years have gone And slips between long meadows All thy trees, Kortirion, were bent And shook with sudden whispering lament For passing were the days and doomed were the nights When flittering ghost-moths danced round red tapers and nighttime And slips between long meadows to the sea Still bearing downward over murmurous falls One day and then another to the sea And slowly thither many years have gone Since first the elves here built Then first the elves built here Kortirion