I remember spending time with my grandparents. The world of the 1980s seems so long ago now. People seemed to come and go much more often then. People lingered. People were interested, really interested, in each other. Before we became cogs in a grand machine, we were living and breathing nodes of a universal whole. I could of course be guilty of inflicting nostalgia on you here, but I really feel that time was valuable for its slowness then. Later, time became intrinsically linked to money and everything speeded up and we lost things that had no economic value but which were somehow much more valuable.

That was what I felt when I read this poem, anyway. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

JRR Tolkien is of course best known for creating Middle Earth, the universe of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

This is a short poem about life, about the human experience of life, about the lives that came before, the lives that will come after, and all the other life—the life of the world out there, the life that creates meadow flowers and butterflies, and a different green in every wood.

It is also, in its gorgeous final stanza, a poem about perhaps the most essential part of life: togetherness. Friendship. Family. The visitor come to say hello.

It first appeared in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of The Lord of the Rings epic, sung bythe hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

You can find the social media links in the show notes, so please follow along there and let me know if you had a different experience with this poem by Tolkien, or any of the poems in this podcast.

You can read the poem here

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Music Credit:

Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com