Articles/FanArt

THE DREAMER AND THE RESTLESS

A Gamgee and a Baggins were travelling at home

Each wondering while wandering, together, knowing some

And thinking each of far away where grass most greenly grows,

Sam, a brown-eyed dreamer, and Frodo, restless soul.

The Gamgee thought of Elven lands, where Lorien does lie,

And Baggins thought of mountains tall that stretch to meet the sky,

And while one was happy thinking this, the other one was sad,

For deep within his heart he knew a longing that he had.

So the Baggins said to Gamgee, "How I wish to follow there,

Above the hills and past all known, and go to lands all fair,

To see the shimmering skyline above a mountain range,

To see the forests shining dark, and waters still and strange,

To follow where my kin has gone, to meet those yet unmet,

To stand in lowest valley or on tallest parapet."

But wishes aren't all wishes, for some shall yet come true,

And soon to come to Frodo was some travelling to do.

So while the hobbits lived and learned, together, both as friends

They barely felt a shadow grow, and knew no evil ends,

And danced and ate, made merry every chance they had to spare,

Both living in the Shire, on their lands, both kind and fair.

But in the wretched dark of Mordor, there came an Evil Power

A great Lord strong and merciless who waited 'till the hour

When his ruling ring would come to be within his baneful grasp

And all lands he's clothe in darkness, when his ruling came to pass.

So Frodo of the Shire, who possessed the fateful ring,

So innocent and young that he knew not what it would bring,

Was found out by Dark servants, the Lord in Mordor's men

And surely would have perished if it weren't for Gandalf when,

The wizard showed up at his door and bade him hurry now,

Before the Servants came for him, thus laying 'pon his brow

The terrible, great burden, of finding out a way

To make for safer lands and carry evil far away.

Upon the night he got the word, he travelled first to Bree,

And planned to go to Rivendell, where soon he'd know that he

Would play a role in saving all of Middle-Earth one day,

The largest part, the greatest part, to cast the ring away.

So off set Frodo, suddenly, with friends of pure, good hearts,

And silently across the lands they made their hurried start

Now thrust on them a burden, of a nameless power and might,

To flee they must, through thick of day, through silent dark of night.

So a Gamgee and a Baggins were travelling afar,

Each wondering while wandering under a-many star,

While silently, and unbeknownst, a subtle change came over

The dreamer of the Shire and the silent, burdened rover.

"My Sam," Said Frodo to his friend, "I have a weary mind,

A dangerous path, a long, dark path I fear I'll have to find,

And though I do it willingly, I cannot but also see

The strangeness of my Quest and the simple irony,

I am now far away from house, and that I call my home,

I am destined to see far-off lands, and long enough to roam

But here, I lie in danger, and there, I lie in doubt,

And over each and every land my name is spread about,

For I am now a wanted man, by a Lord on mountain top

And when we get to Rivendell, I fear I shall not stop."

"Oh, Frodo," Said good Gamgee, "You shall not walk afraid,

I shall always walk beside you, and offer you my aid,

For what are friends if not those who, when trouble is at hand,

Follow those they love the most unto the bitterest of lands?"

And so, they both did realise what time had come to pass,

And though fear grew in the mountains, and burnt was all the grass,

And the journeying seemed endless, though all did fear the end,

The Gamgee and the Baggins found in both a loving friend.

Much is said of tales of might, of valour, of the strong,

But more is said, though less is told, of those that love so long,

Like Sam, and Frodo, true and good, though evil bars the way,

The dreamer and the restless will together find a way.