"Lady Undómiel," said Aragorn, "the hour is indeed hard, yet it was made even in that day when we met under the white birches in the garden of Elrond, where none now walk. And on the hill of Cerin Amroth when we forsook both the Shadow and the Twilight this doom we accepted. Take counsel with yourself, beloved, and ask whether you would indeed have me wait until I wither and fall from my high seat unmanned and witless. Nay, lady, I am the last of the Númenoreans and the latest King of the Eldar Days; and to me has been given not only a span thrice that of Men of Middle-earth, but also the grace to go at my will, and give back the gift. Now, therefore, I will sleep.

"I speak no comfort to you, for there is no comfort for such pain within the circles of the world. the uttermost choice is before you: to repent and go to the Havens and bear away into the West the memory of our days together that shall there be evergreen but never more than a memory; or else to abide the Doom of Men."

"Nay, dear lord," she said, "that choice is long over. There is now no ship to bear me hence, and I must indeed abide the Doom of Men, whether I will or nill: the loss and the silence. But I say to you, King of the Númenoreans, not till now have I understood the tale of your people and their fall. As wicked fools I scorned them, but I pity them at last. For if this is indeed, as the Eldar say, the gift of the One to Men, it is bitter to receive."

"So it seems," he said. "But let us not be overthrown at the final test, who of old renounced the Shadow and the Ring. In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! We are not bound forever in the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory, Farewell!"

"Estel, Estel!" she cried, and with that even as he took her hand and kissed it, he fell into sleep. Then a great beauty was revealed in him, so that all who after came there looked on him with wonder; for they saw the grace of his youth, and the valor of his manhood, and the wisdom and majesty of his age were all blended together. And long there he lay, an image of the splendour of the Kings of Men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world.

For One More Day with Him

For one more day with him,

One more day with him, muin nîn,

Just one more day.

-

No longer is this world my home.

It has grown cold and unfriendly to me.

The days seem long and endless,

Not even the stars give me comfort.

-

Why Estel,

Why did you leave me?

Why did you have to leave?

-

Is there anywhere I can go to escape this grief?

This hopelessness?

This feeling of despair?

-

Bitter is the cup that I drink,

Bitter are the days of my mortality,

Bitter are my feelings,

Yet I am not bitter about my choice.

-

I loved you, Estel,

I love you still.

Naught for naught did I give up my immortality—

Only for you, meleth nîn.

Only for you did I make this choice.

-

You were the one who said I would be your only treasure.

You were the one who said that I was yours.

You were the one who called me “Tinúviel,”

The Nightingale.

-

No one on Arda is like you,

No one can ever compare to you, hervenn nîn,

No one.

-

So few of my people are left,

So few understand my anguish.

-

But should some ask me now,

“Would you have chosen your father’s path?

Would you have forsaken your immortal life?

Just for a simple mortal?”

-

My answer will always be,

“I would choose no other.

He is my life,

My passion.

Better to live numbered days with him,

Than to live an eternity without him.”

Hon melin…Nin melia.

-

Ai, Estel,

For one more day with you,

One more day with you, muin nîn,

Just one more day.

There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by the men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the sea.

The End

Muin nîn – my beloved

Meleth nîn – my love

hervenn nîn – my husband

Hon melin – I love him.

Nin melia – He loves me.

A/N: Passages taken from the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings.