There and Back and There Again
(22 September)
It’s Sunday
It’s fall
And the light of the full moon
(should there be)
On Durin’s Day
(should it be)
Might illuminate the secret parts
Of maps
For our adventures
But it’s the hobbits’ birthday
For our attention
Now
Of two hobbits
Born on the same date
With the first fellow
Visited by
Dwarves
Who called for
Cake
And what is
A seedcake
Anyway
There was music first
And then a plan
To find a realm
To find a base
To find the horde
Inside the mountain where
The throne resided
Too
And
By the way
A dragon
In the way
Then was the second one
Years later
Who took his uncle’s ring
To a deadened land
With a volcano
Into which
To throw the ring
You see
The ring was more than magic
It was power
The kind that Acton said
Corrupts
Entirely
And Frodo
And his friend
Samwise
With allies
Several
At first
Quested through corruption
To get there
To this mountain
To destroy the thing
That
Took the easier story
(tell Bilbo’s buttons)
Into
Perforce
An epic situation
And all the armies of the Earth
Came
Or didn’t come
To Pelennor
Then to the northern gate
Of Mordor
Great battle
Great losses
Final victories
Though it was the hobbits
Who saved everything
At last
Wounded
And wounded again
With the assist
Of an eldritch creature
Half-hobbit
Perhaps
Who fell with the ring
Into the fire
Rescued by giant Eagles
And wouldn’t that
Be something
Then Frodo
And his friend
Could not stay in Middle-Earth
Though they lived there
For
A while longer but
Finally
Set sail
With other heroes
Toward a land of blessing
Land of healing
Over the sea
Like Avalon
To Valinor
We live there
Where the hobbits
With the others
Trod
And where hobbit-peers
Might be hiding behind trees
Out of
The classic
Corners of our eyes
For
Middle-Earth
Is our Earth
And us
So
Happy Birthday
Bilbo
Frodo
Regards of a thankful
Planet
That now
Would like to party
For you
Still wondering
What a seedcake
Might be
(okay
I can look it up
and
well
the Victorians
liked it
and there are
recipes
and other lands
and times
where I’m sure
we like it
too)
C L Couch
Photo by Lucas Gruwez on Unsplash
(as I recall, the house of Samwise has a yellow door)
(x = space)
x
x
Piglet and Samwise
x
Piglet and Samwise
Would that
We could
Only think on them
To be them
Or to appreciate
Steadfast
Companions
And companionship
So close to us
x
They’re smart
Don’t miss that
They’re clever
Too
x
Sometimes they carry
Oh
So much
And are capacious
To take on our burdens
Too
x
They trim the verge
They stir the honey
In the pot
For consistency
Well
Of verge
And pot
Or rather
What’s inside
x
They have their homes
But leave them gladly
To find us
And then to journey
With us
When
They reach us
And we tell them
Or somehow we know
We’re moving on
x
You’re leaving
Then
We’re going with you
To the other side of the wood
Or through
Minas Morgul
Into Mordor
x
Like grace
They will go far with us
Wishing to go
The entirety
Of the calling
To adventure
x
And maybe they will
Or maybe there’s a part
We’ll have to go on
All our own
And then
To meet them later
(with success)
Someday to consider
Final matters
(then)
x
And in the mean time
There are parties
And there is
Conversation
On paths
Off the paths
On bridges
Inside when there are storms
Outside
After
x
Christopher Robin once
Said about his mother
Than when she left their home
To wander round
(that is, around)
The hundred-acre wood
Christopher had asked
Would she like him
To go with her?
x
She said no
But when I return
Greet me as if
I had been gone
A long
Long
Time
x
Maybe we always have
Such friends
As heroes or companions
Recalling
We are both
To each other
x
C L Couch
x
x
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
“Pooh!” he whispered.
“Yes, Piglet?”
“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”
― A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
(cited at or by GoodReads)
x
Piglet, as you know, is the companion to Winnie the Pooh. Samwise (Gamgee) is the gardener and companion to Frodo Baggins, the bearer of the ring in The Lord of the Rings. Each separately or both together was or were mentioned in a sermon that I heard today. I’m sorry I don’t remember why. Jesus had companions, too, though that was not the pastor’s point (or they were not his points).
x
The story of Christopher Robin and his mother is told in The Enchanted Places, an autobiography.
x
Photo by Arwin Neil Baichoo on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Meet You at the Place by the Sign
x
At the end
We find ourselves,
Which is why I do not understand
The quest
Yes, it must be in the journey
Why not take a journey?
Find an agent, first
x
We don’t want to kill a dragon
There are too few
We don’t really want the Arkenstone
Too hard to find a buyer for
Too much destruction
In the selling
Or the having
x
The map is fun
We’ll take the treasure map
Though we might have to earn
Some credibility
For display
x
Sigh, all right
We’ll go
Make our final preparations
In the evening
Leave in the morning
Our weariness shall be
The last convincing item
For the start
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
Missing Magic
x
Well, that was a clutter
Messages, groceries by the door
Coffeemaker, toaster
And nearly all of it
I slept through
Catching the final beep
From the phone
Signaling that
So many things had happened
In my Prufrock world
I don’t have a peach
And the part is in the middle
I’ve only heard the mermaid sing
In the Disney movie
But there is color outside
And cool air to breathe
x
And I shall go
Not
To strive or find
Yes, not
To yield
I doubt there will be a grail,
Either
Or a dragon
And if a dragon, we should
Become acquainted
x
C L Couch
x
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Photo by Artiom Vallat on Unsplash
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