A POEM TO SHARE?

This is from the last volume of The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo, in his very old age recites it to his younger cousin before the younger hobbit leaves Rivendell to return to the Shire. I think it resonates more as I grow older than it did when I first read the books as a senoir in high school.

I sit beside the fire and think...
by J. R. R. Tolkien


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.