11. A Challenge and a Confession

'Enough! Enough!' Nèhaléni cried.
Her fingers found the sill and stopped;
She grasped it gazing onward, out.
'Not love would lead you to reveal
- 'Beren whom Lúthien -
- 'would conceal. ' -

'Not love, not love, but rival's wrath
'Would call a hero's haven crime.'
'Yet you - yes, you -
'Called for his head.'
- 'Is this your love,' -
- 'To wish your rival dead?' -

'Not faith nor friendship - love far less -
'Would tell the tale a friend confides.'
'When Lúthien looked and asked your aid,'
'Her love for Beren burning in her eyes,'
'You told the king.'
- 'Was this the love -
- ' Of which you sing?' -

Turning towards him, amber eyes
Set wide, she waited. He searched for signs
Of anger on her face but found
There no disdain.
- Her gaze reflected gentleness, -
- Her features, pain. -

'Ah lady - Nèhaléni -' His sudden smile
Flickered, faded like sun through snow.
'So Lúthien looked at me, so she spoke,'
'With words that wilted, blasted, broke
'What pride might well condone:'
- 'The empty deeds of bitterness -
- 'I never can atone.' -

'Alas, the longing hungry heart
'May live for love yet hate its hope!'
'For twisted, torn my heart was home
'To duty, love and envy,'
- 'and of the three but one -
- 'is prone to mercy.' -

'To Lúthien in Hírilorn whose leaves were long
'There came a quiet melody, a murmur
'And a song: regret begun,'
'My sorrow spun,'
- 'Forgive my shame,' -
- 'the wrong I've done.' -

'Ah, Lúthien in Hirilorn, her princess-prison!'
'Pale and proud though worry-worn
'With longing love for Man late-born,'
'Yet free of hate:'
- 'gentle in her loveliness,' -
- 'gracious, great.' -

'Ai! Lúthien in Hirilorn! A terrible task
'To hold her at the King's command,'
'To hold her from her heart's demand,'
'To hold her there alone, unarmed
'But for her beauty.'
- 'It broke my heart, which yet must stand -
- 'To do its duty.' -

'The loom of life's a frame we fill
'With deeds and dreams we tangle till
'Our sight is stunned as patterns pass
'Like flashing beams
- 'too bright to last,' -
- 'and nothing's as it seems.' -

'If duty's dark and love is loss
'Our souls are storms where tempest-tossed
'We spin uncertain webs whose warp
'Unraveling
- 'we grasp in sudden -
- 'incandescence dazzling.' -

'Lúthien! Ah, Lúthien! Weaver of dreams!'
'What a web her soul must spin!'
'What a web her fingers form!'
'Dazzled, my heart
- 'divines dark purpose -
- 'in her art.' -

'Lúthien! Ai! Lúthien! Weaver of dreams!'
'A song of sleep - a net of night -
'A cloak concealing shadow flight.'
'My soul suspects but fears to free
'The sullen surf of violence,'
- 'and proves its love -
- 'for Lúthien by silence.' -