Coming in from tramping in the snow and warming up by the fire reminds me of this poem from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is Bilbo's song in Rivendell at the end of the story.I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.
Photo © 2011 by A. Roy Hilbinger
Nice! There's something about staring into the flames, isn't there? It's easy to get lost deep in thought!
ReplyDeleteI love that poem (I love that book!)
ReplyDeleteAnd the photo fits it perfectly
Tolkein had some pretty nice poems in those books, including this one. Did you know that this one has been set to music?
ReplyDeleteJohn, I saw a bunch on YouTube and wasn't overly impressed, although the one by Anios, which was cut short, sounded okay as far as it went. I had hoped that Howard Shore would set it to music for Peter Jackson's movie, but he didn't. So many of the "songs" Shore wrote as part of the score for the movies were so beautiful; I'll always regret that he didn't set "I Sit Beside the Fire and Think".
ReplyDeleteLovely complementary words and photo. Like yer boots too!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful.Have A Fine Weekend Roy.
ReplyDeleteClassic!
ReplyDelete