# We Need Your Votes!! in the Anthology Thread of the February 2012 SDMB Poetry Sweatshop!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-your-votes-in-the-anthology-thread-of-the-february-2012-sdmb-poetry-sweatshop/615607>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 13, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-your-votes-in-the-anthology-thread-of-the-february-2012-sdmb-poetry-sweatshop/615607 "2012-03-13T01:03:31Z")\
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**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-your-votes-in-the-anthology-thread-of-the-february-2012-sdmb-poetry-sweatshop/615607/4 "2012-03-13T01:29:47Z")

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Not for me a quiet life of hearth and home!  
No, though I warned them I was not worthy  
of the burden they placed on my frail shoulders,  
it was decreed that I must take ship far away,  
leaving those fair shores, that ineffable light,  
and give my all to the cause of defeating the enemy:  
my time, my passion, my spirit, indeed my very life.

I had no gift of prophecy, no talent for battle then;  
what I acquired came to me only with difficulty.  
Neither king nor master was I, but rather a counsellor,  
wandering wherever I might, a sage, a friend in grey,  
kindling fires of hope and courage and resolution  
in those of great hearts and sinewy arms; and  
thus, through the lonely, hopeful strivings of long years,  
did I prepare the way for the dark foe’s downfall.

And while it was smaller hands which sealed his doom,  
I played my part, I think, and soon will return to the blessed West.  
Tired am I, weary to my bones; old, too old in body and spirit,  
though content to have done what I could to bring about  
this new golden age of which I have long dreamed,  
and for which I have long striven,  
but which I, alas, will see not.

Elendil’s Heir

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