Twenty years have flowed away down the long river

Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien
"Loä yukainen avar Anduinë sí valútier:"
Poem Information
Written	1958
Revised	1958
Published	The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien
Subject(s)	Quenya

"Loä yukainen avar Anduinë sí valútier:" is the opening line of a poem recited by J.R.R. Tolkien during his speech at the "Hobbit Dinner" in Rotterdam in 1958.

Poem draft excerpt

Loä yukainen avar Anduinë sí valútier:
i aluvar koivienyo eärello nantule.

English recording excerpt

Twenty years have flowed away down the long river
And never in my life will return for me from the sea
Ah years in which looking far away I saw ages long past
When still trees bloomed free in a wide country
And thus now all begins to wither
With the breath of cold-hearted wizards
To know things they break them
And their stern lordship they establish
Through fear of death.

Background

Tolkien gave a Quenya rendering of the poem, which was planned for publication sometime in the autumn of 2014. Even a challenge was promoted within the Lambengolmor group to recreate the original Quenya text before it was released. While the recording and full English poem remain unpublished, the Elvish text was published in The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien.