🌲 The Song of Ent and Entwife 🌸

⸻ [Intro | slow burn | Cimbalom + Violin + Distant Flute] (wordless male humming → answered by female vocal sigh) [Soft piano] ⸻ [male voice] When spring unfolds the beechen-leaf and sap is in the bough, When light is on the wild-wood stream, and wind is on the brow, When stride is long, and breath is deep, and keen the mountain air, Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is fair! ⸻ [female voice] When Spring is come to garth and field, and corn is in the blade, When blossom like a shining snow is on the orchard laid, When sun and shower upon the earth with fragrance fill the air, I'll linger here, and will not come, because my land is fair. ⸻ [male voice] When Summer lies upon the world, and in a noon of gold Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves the dreams of trees unfold, When woodland halls are green and cool, and wind is in the West, Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is best! ⸻ [female voice] When Summer warms the hanging fruit and burns the berry brown; When straw is gold, and ear is white, and harvest comes to town; When honey spills, and apple swells, though wind be in the West, I'll linger here beneath the Sun, because my land is best! ⸻ [male voice] When autumn bends the laden bough and red the rowan stands, When mist lies low in valley deep and frost is in the lands, When leaves like embers drift and fall upon the forest floor, Come back to me! Come back to me — the year grows old once more! ⸻ [female voice] When autumn fills the woven barns and grain is safely stored, When cider runs in amber streams and bright the harvest hoard, When twilight gathers gold and brown and swallows cross the air, I’ll linger yet, and will not come — my fields are rich and fair. ⸻ [male voice] When Winter comes, the winter wild that hill and wood shall slay; When trees shall fall and starless night devour the sunless day; When wind is in the deadly East, then in the bitter rain I'll look for thee, and call to thee; I'll come to thee again! ⸻ [female voice] When Winter comes, and singing ends; when darkness falls at last; When broken is the barren bough, and light and labour past; I'll look for thee, and wait for thee, until we meet again: Together we will take the road beneath the bitter rain! ⸻ [Outro | piano + Deep xylophone + Distant flute] [male + female voices | full duet harmony] Together we will take the road that leads into the West, And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest. [Soft Cimbalom + Violin plucks echoing to a final sad chord] ⸻ -{Back Story}- {In the deep memory of Middle-earth, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Ents stand as ancient guardians of the wild and growing world. Keepers of forests, shepherds of roots and rivers, they walked in harmony with the slow turning of the earth. Yet their hearts were divided by different loves. The Ents cherished untamed woods and wandering paths beneath old stars, while the Entwives delighted in ordered gardens, tilled fields, and the gentle shaping of living things. So their roads parted — not in anger, but in longing. Across ages of wind and war, they have searched in silence, each believing the other lost beyond the circles of the world. And still the question lingers like leaves in autumn light: Will Ent and Entwife ever find one another again?