upon bree (outside the shire)

upon bree (outside the shire)

upon Bree, the hill
lying at the crossroads of the Great East Road
for there did dwell
both hobbits and men alike
in the confines of the Pony
to gather the start of trials then
three days from the shire walk
to take a pint with free-folk
so even the one ring did pass through
through the gates then to the west
on that final quest upon Mount Doom
to spare the land from foul gaze
the gloom to spread from Mordor’s eye
so, the smallest of things
can conquer dread armies
with hearts larger and stronger
and the indomitable will
that is nourished by friendship and kin.

I grew up on Lord of the Rings… the books, the lore, not the movies (which honestly surpassed my expectations by far, kudos to Peter Jackson). Lord of the Rings, Nintendo, D&D… it was all pre internet people… so it took your imagination, I am not going to play old man asshole though, I think it is all relative to when you grow up, things happen, stories happen, I totally don’t get the harry potter thing but that is a couple of generations of people who have that in their canon of life, that is the way it works, good, bad or indifferent, it just is… I grew up with good Indiana Jones and Star Wars… and apparently I will be around for the death of those franchises… well, at least I got Game of Thrones… “The things we do for love”… oh and check out this site to buy middle earth type maps… I don’t make a dime off any of this, not my purpose, but I thought this was pretty cool.. In the Reads (great word play) I of course bought the New Jersey map…
the evenstar.

the evenstar.

“Let us not be overthrown at the final test…
In sorrow we must go, but not in despair”
*

and so passed the great king-
in the wake left broken, Arwen
who alone could not bear the grief
who gave all the gift of her kin and kind
to escape out the days into the undying lands
beyond the seeming reach of death; for a time;
but trade all, for this brief time of immaculate love-
above all;
now, with nothing left in this path
she departed out to her once splendid land
forlorn by time, deprived of the elven light, the evenstar – gone,
for some ages now-
for lothlorien had fallen into decay
and her, the last vestige of the place-
she lay down to die, as common folk do
just as Aragorn passed by choice, so she did too
in this far land, now of mortal men-
capable of the darkest plights
the darkest dooms
and yet the also-
the grandest heights, in the true light of love
and now, sacrifice, for the two have chosen, long ago
her eyes close,
knowing this day would come, one last thought
“goodbye my love, my last and only kiss- is yours”

*the last words of Aragon (before he chose to die), from JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Sometimes I am inspired by such great works to write something, this particular scene actually does show up in the movie as Elrond reveals his daughter’s fate to her in a vision, one thing though, perhaps overlooked by some, Elves are not actually immortal, they are tied to the land, they can live an instant or millennia, the undying lands will sustain them for all time as the land exists, but at such a time that the earth ceases, so they too will perish as all things must.