Into the West

The Departure of Boromir

by

Sorrowfully they cast loose
the funeral boat: there Boromir lay,
restful, peaceful, gliding upon the
bosom of the flowing water. The
stream took him while they held
their own boat back with their
paddles. He floated be them, and
slowly his boat departed, waning
to a dark spot against the golden
light; and then suddenly it
vanished. Rauros roared on
unchanging. The River had taken
Boromir son of Denethor, and was
not seen in Minas Tirith, standing
as he used to stand upon the
White Tower in the morning. But in
Gondor in after-days it was long
said that the elven-boat rode the
falls and the foaming pool, and
bore him down
through Osgiliath, and past the many
mouth of the Anduin, out into the
Great Sea at night under the stars.

For a while the three companions
remained silent, gazing after him.
Then Aragorn spoke. ‘They will
look for him from the White Tower,’
he said, ‘but he will not return
from mountain or from sea.’
Then slowly he began to sing:

Through Rohan over fen and field
where the long grass grows
The West Wind comes walking, and
about the walls it goes.
‘What news from the west, O wandering
wind, do you bring to me tonight?
Have you seen Boromir the Tall by moon
or by starlight?’
‘I saw him ride over seven streams,
over waters wide and gray;
I saw him walk in empty lands, until
he passed away
Into the shadows of the North. I saw
him then no more.
The North Wind may have heard the horn
of the son of Denethor.’
‘O Boromir! From the high walls
westward I looked afar,
But you can not from the empty lands
where no men are.’

Then Legolas sang:

From the mouths of the Sea the South
Wind flies, from the sandhills and
the stones;
The wailing of the gulls it bears,
and at the gate it moans.
‘What news from the South, O sighing wind,
do you bring to me at eve?
Where now is Boromir the Fair? He
tarries and I grieve.’
‘Ask not of me where he doth dwell-so
many bones there lie
On the white shores and the dark shores
under the stormy sky;
So many have past down Anduin to find
the flowing Sea.
Ask of the North Wind news of them
the North Wind send to me!’
‘O Boromir! Beyond the gate the
seaward road runs south,
But you came not with the wailing
gulls from the gray sea’s mouth.’

Then Aragorn sang again:

From the Gate of the Kings the North
Wind rides, and past the roaring falls;
And clear and cold about the tower its
loud horn calls.
'What news of the North, O mighty wind,
do you bring to me today?
What news of Boromir the Bold?
For he is long away.’
‘Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry.
There many foes he fought.
His cloven shield, his broken sword,
they to the water brought.
His head so proud, his face so fair,
his limbs they laid to rest;
And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls,
bore him upon its breast.’
‘O Boromir! The Tower of Guard shall
ever northwards gaze
To Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, until
the and of days.’

So they ended. Then they turned
their boat and drove it with all the
speed they could against the stream back
to Parth Galen.
‘You left the East Wind to me,’
said Gimli, ‘but I will say naught of it.’
‘That is as it should be,’ said
Aragorn, ‘In Minas Tirith they endure the
East Wind, but the do not ask it for tidings.
But now Boromir has taken his road, and we
must make haste to choose our own.’

J. R. R. Tolkien,
The Lord of the Rings,
The Two Towers