In the paths beneath the mountain Gentle sun dissolves to night; One wrong turn in the cold And you're lost 'till you're old In that blindness far from sight . . . Then one corner more, a sudden gleam Breaks across your weary eyes! For your path runs a fall Through a towering hall Where enchanted spires arise As you hazard a glance at that shining expanse Every glimmer greets your mind With the glories that you'll find . . .
CHORUS:
Oh, the light its never dimming in those caverns far below,
For the air is charged with wonder, every surface sings a-glow
How I long to reach that earth beneath the earth that once they roamed,
With the roots of grace and beauty banished to their halls of stone.
As you walk that sparkling city Every path delights in turn, From the stonework that sails To the halls full of tales More than ever you could learn And its children call in fluid speech That can move the heart to sigh, For each land far above Has a place in their love When their trust's returned in kind. All their triumphs are shown as the light fills the stones To invoke the jeweled sun In a day that's never done.
CHORUS
But it's darkness still they wander Too long exiled from our sight Turned away by their kin For an unpardoned sin Driven down to stone and night With a memory of two thousand years That they struggle to contain Come the hidden above And the banished below Won't you raise a new refrain? Yet the time soon will come when they'll walk in the sun The united kin ascend And the sundered tree will mend...
FINAL CHORUS:
Oh, the light it's ever brimming from the caverns far below
And the air is charged with wonder, every surface sings aglow
For one day we'll see triumphant three as together they shall roam,
And the roots of grace and beauty will at last be welcomed home . . .
Completed in a week, with MUCH welcome assistance and corroboration. The tune's still a bit iffy: I have NO idea what pitch with which I should begin the song, so I may have impetus to learn that crazy little thing called musical notation. All in all, though, this turned out QUITE well. --WillShipley