CORAL HULL: POETRY INSPIRED BY THE LORD OF THE RINGS
HOBBITON: THE PERFECT CHILDHOOD
(VII) Leaving The Shire With Sam
"If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been."
- SamWise Gamgee (Walsh & Boyens)
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It was early in our halfling lives when we set out from home.
The sky was clearing into mauve and settling after heavy rain.
It was our last night of mushrooms, ale and merriment in Bag End.
The sunset faded on the walls and hills, and I grew cold and weary
as shadows crept out of the corners, growing slowly dark as I grew
sad and lonely. I'll not share this burden with my friends tonight.
The old scarecrow rests upright in the empty autumn field,
as if a wistful parting sun had lit his trousers from beneath.
As if that very same light was stolen up from the ground,
making us giddy with all the golden browns of this afternoon.
We were also prone to catching warmth like the gold and silver
rust of leaves, that leave the trees trembling like butterflies and
turn into the dying day, as if the light might bring them home,
those leaves that fall upon our shoulders. Remember this day,
my friend. For our hearts were bright and coarse with autumn. |
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It was a field of wonderment and endings and past this place
all our dark and sad beginnings. Do not fret, my dear SamWise,
for part of us stays behind and we will return when the job
is done. We will find our way back to Hobbiton and all its
perfect goings on, in all its perfect light. Oh Sam, come on ...
We are the only ones to leave this place, no other would.
It was a golden moment, as if everything had absorbed
the sun and the goodness of the town, to such an extent
that it emanated its own green light and would continue ...
beyond all we have ever loved and known in glorious Hobbiton. |
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"One more step," said Sam, "and that's the farthest
I've ever been from the green meadows of my home."
Oh Sam! I know ... but we must continue now.
We will not forget this sunlit field of golden brown,
the autumn wind flurrying down the golden hillsides,
all the little gully streams upon the crops and fields.
We will not forget this day, even if we travel to the end
of all of Middle Earth, we will not forget The Shire
and all that is green and grand and golden in the world,
for all the world as we knew it was glorious and good,
even in the shadow of this trembling threatening dark. |
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I am with you, Sam. Don't be sad. I say this without speaking.
For this glorious day will follow us and the light The Shire
will be in our hearts, from now until forevermore -
when all other lights grow dim, ... so come on then,
Remember this day, when we knew no better than who we were
or how we lived to grow and prosper in this lovely corner
of the big world that knows no end. SamWise, my loyal friend.
For as much I am with you, you are with me now until forever,
and leaving The Shire together, makes this moment complete.
Just keep your big feet steady and your kind heart safe,
for who knows what lies ahead for us, my dear SamWise.
For the world is huge and perilous to halflings such as us
and there are no guarantees outside our ways of knowledge.
And so like my Uncle Bilbo before me, I jumped the silent hedge
and took to the open fields, passing into a voiceless darkness
greater than I had ever known, with dear old SamWise Gamgee,
the strange night was murmuring to the eaves of ice and snow.
The owlet's cry was lonely and the trees were whispering restless,
as if all the streams that flowed by their roots, left them lean and
thirsty. Before the dawn had come, we said goodbye to Bag End.
The moon fell silent in our pockets as we vanished into a dream,
like the faded autumn rustling, of papery leaves in all the grasses. |
"It is no bad thing celebrating a simple life." - Bilbo Baggins (J.R.R. Tolkien) |
This website is part of my personal testimony that has been guided by The Holy Spirit and written in Jesus' name. |
