From dark Dunharrow in the dim morning

From dark Dunharrow in the dim morning was the first line in a song written in Rohan about the ride of Théoden and the Rohirrim eastward to aid Gondor. It is written in alliterative verse, meaning that, instead of rhyming, each verse has several words starting with the same sounds. This type of poetry was common among Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxons on whom the Rohirrim were based.

Poem

From dark Dunharrow in the dim morning
with thane and captain rode Thengel's son:
to Edoras he came, the ancient halls
of the Mark-wardens mist-enshrouded;
golden timbers were in gloom mantled.
Farewell he bade to his free people,
hearth and high-seat, and the hallowed places,
where long he had feasted ere the light faded.
Forth rode the king, fear behind him,
fate before him. Fealty kept he;
oaths he had taken, all fulfilled them.
Forth rode Théoden. Five nights and days
east and onward rode the Eorlingas
through Folde and Fenmarch and Firienwood,
six thousand spears to Sunlending,
Mundburg the mighty under Mindolluin,
Sea-kings' city in the South-kingdom
foe-beleaguered, fire-encircled.
Doom drove them on. Darkness took them,
horse and horseman; hoofbeats afar
sank into silence: so the songs tell us.