Hwær cwom mearg? Hwær cwom mago? Hwær cwom maþþumgyfa? Hwær cwom symbla gesetu? Hwær sindon seledreamas? Eala beorht bune! Eala byrnwiga! Eala þeodnes þrym! Hu seo þrag gewat, genap under nihthelm, swa heo no wære.
'Where is the horse? Where the rider? Where has the giftgiver gone? Where are the seats of the feast? Where are the wonders of the hall? Alas, the bright cup! Alas, the mailed warrior! Alas, the glory of the lord! How that time has passed away, dark under nightcover, as if it never were.'
-- The Wanderer (Eardstapa), lines 92a-96b, from the Exeter Book. This poem served as the inspiration for Tolkien's Lament of the Rohirrim, as published in The Two Towers, "The King of the Golden Hall":
"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?"
You may also notice the Old English word maþþum used here to mean 'gift', whence Tolkien's use of 'mathom' for the gifts Hobbits give each other on their birthdays.
