men of the east and of the west and of the south and of the north have coveted that land and dispossessed those who held it before them , because of its beauty and goodliness and of the glamour of the fading ages of the elves that lingered still among its trees beyond its high white shores.~ yet at each taking of that isle have many more of the most ancient of all dwellers therein , the folk of luthien , turned westward ; and they have got them in ships at belerion in the west and sailed thence away for ever over the horizon of men 's knowledge , leaving the island the poorer for their going and its leaves less green ; yet still it abides the richest among men in the presence of the elves .