Recently, I’ve been drawn to singing. I was a saxophonist in the band in school, and never really thought of myself as having any kind of singing voice, or a desire to sing more often than whenever I happen to be listening to a rock song in the car or something. Over the course of the past year, since about March I think, I have suddenly become drawn to new music, and have found that I enjoy singing these songs myself.
They’re often old folk songs, or songs that tell a story, particularly a heroic one. All of them are beautiful, resonant. As much as I enjoy a lot of different kinds of modern music, I don’t think that much of it is made to sound beautiful. It’s compelling, certainly, but it doesn’t inspire me.
Anyway, lately I’ve been listening to performances of songs or poems written by Tolkien, and learning to sing them. One in particular has gotten a hold of me lately, The Lament for the Rohirrim, but it took me a while to really understand the song. If you listen to it, the story it tells is structurally quite strange. The ending in particular doesn’t feel like an ending. It is not a conclusion, it is energetically open-ended — a question asked, but not yet answered.
It took me a while to understand exactly what was happening and really connect to the song, but I believe I now have an analog that illuminates why it is structured the way it is.
Minor Arcana: The Five of Cups
The Five of Cups is a card of grief, of loss, deep emotional pain. A person stands before three overturned cups, that have spilled out their contents on the ground, and the person stares down in anguish at the toppled remains. They cannot look away. Behind them, out of sight of the person, but within the view of the image, stand two upright cups, still full.
This is a card that represents the pain of a parent when they lose their child, the pain of the child when they lose their parent. It is the pain that anyone feels when they lose something very important to them, and they know it is never coming back. The card clearly shows that all is not lost, though. There are still cups standing, this person still has something worth living for. There is still love in their hearts that, when they are ready, they can give to others. But first, they must go through the process of grieving. Only after this will they be ready to move on. But, they can indeed move on. There is no reason to stay, fixated upon what has been lost till the end of time. It is not coming back. It is gone. Eventually, you must accept this and go on with your life too.
The Connection
Structurally, the song follows this same pattern:
Where now the horse and the rider?
Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk
And the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring
And the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest
And the tall corn growing.
They have passed like rain on the mountain like a wind in the meadow
The days have gone down in the West
Behind the hills into shadow
Who shall gather the smoke
Of the dead wood burning,
Or behold the flowing years
From the Sea returning.
First, what has been lost? In this song, it is a blend of different things, but it centers around the family and the home, and the warrior who protected it. This must be identified. Then, it must be acknowledged that it’s gone. These things were ephemeral in the first place, ultimately. Death comes for us all, just as the sun always goes down beneath the sky at the end of every day.
And yet, life goes on. The end of the song is a question the ones singing it, the ones still alive, ask of themselves, and those who can listen. Are you going to stay still in your grief? Allow yourself to petrify? Or are you going to recognize that you live, that you breathe, and that you can move forward? By doing so, you will honor the things that you have lost, the people, the home, all of it. Honor life with life. Gather up their memory, treasure it, and behold the flowing years of life that were lost returning to you.
That’s the secret, of course. The overturned cups in the 5 of Cups won’t be refilled…while you’re looking at them. But when you turn around and grasp the two that still stand upright, and move forward with your life, those overturned cups are lifted up and refilled as you look forward. You can’t get back what was lost, except by honoring it with the way you live your life. Honor what you have lost, and then behold the flowing years returning.