I SIT BESIDE THE FIRE AND THINK

(text by J.R.R. Tolkien, our melody by Lance Quale)

[audio]: Lance Quale singing

[audio]: Town Common Songs, 20 Nov 2022


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. 

Sung by Bilbo Baggins to his nephew Frodo, upon saying farewell to him in Rivendell.

poem in context: The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Ring Goes South" (chapter excerpt including poem) [LingQ]

song source: Katherine Kocs' Song of the Soul (2007) (audio no longer online) [Northern Spirit Radio]


Uncle Lance Day, 20 Nov 2022