Standing at the river waiting for a voice forever silent
In the twilight, in the evening, waiting still and never leaving
Stands a woman gently grieving for a life so long departed
For a love so far and distant, for a world, a dream, a story
And the light so softly gleaming, through the leaves and through the sorrow
Shines unseen for in her mourning night prevails and all is dreaming
The provenance of this work is unknown, though it is first recorded in written form in circa 725, appearing as a quotation in a collection of poems and songs made by a scholar of
Malmor. The author of the collection comments only that it is a brief part of a much longer work he heard as a child from a travelling poet "of another land" and that it is the only part of the poem he can recall clearly.
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