mechtild: (Birthday Bagginses)
Mechtild's ([personal profile] mechtild) wrote2016-09-22 04:35 am

Happy Birthday Bagginses 2016, with jan-u-wine’s ‘Nothing Is There Better’, art by J. R. R. Tolkien

~*~

1928 Tumble [Timber] Hill-TEASER.jpg



Happy Birthday, Frodo and Bilbo!





Greetings! Forgive my lack of presence, the combined result of responsibilities to others and creeping decreptitude. :) I am inspired to post, however, because jan-u-wine has written a beautiful new poem in honor of the day, Nothing Is There Better.

"Beautiful" is almost a limp descriptive of Nothing Is There Better, it is such a lovely piece. When I read it I seem to feel it, literally; I experience it through my senses, making the emotional impact the more powerful. The way Jan sets up her spare but perfect word-pictures does this, the clarity of observation, through Frodo's eyes, expressing the subtle depth of his new-yet-becoming-familar life on Tol Eressëa across the Sea. I think his healing, if obliquely stated, is greatly in evidence, as if there is a profound quiet inside Frodo, a contemplative quiet that seems only occasionally disturbed by the static of past pain and suffering. And Bilbo is still there, a heart of joy, if a very old and very frail one. I love this new poem with all my Tolkien-enraptured soul.

The illustration is a picture Tolkien made while on holiday with his young family at Lyme Regis. They were there in 1927 and 1928. Tolkien did a lot of drawing and painting on these visits, much of it eventually informing future illustrations for his imaginative work. His study of trees along a path approaching a view of the sea, "Tumble Hill" (locally called "Timber Hill"), is a picture that contributed to illustrations of wooded scenes to come, the forest of Taur-na-fuin and the Vale of Sirion in Silmarillion, and Mirkwood and the Elven Kind's gate in The Hobbit. It seems like spring in "Tumble Hill", the leaves, high up, not fully out, the air clear and fresh, the shape and texture of the tree boles predominant. It was this picture that inspired Jan's poem.




~*~






Below: ‘Timber Hil’ by J. R. R. Tolkien, 1927-28:

1928 Tumble [Timber] Hill-RED.jpg


Nothing Is There Better


Nothing is there better,
my lad,

than the quiet
company
of the Road.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Those words.

In dawn’s pearl light
they wake me,

the small scent of rain
sweet,

drops diademing

tender grasses,
tree roots

twine’d by silver
faerie purses.


As if it were the ending and the beginning
of every Road,

this common track calls me,
limned ribbon rising to
tree-crowned hill.

In a moment, my feet find
the coarse-paper’d dust
of the upward path,

my thoughts woven about
the fragile voicings
of brake-starlings

and the mithril paths of slow-wandered
snails.

Sharp as just-birthed rock,
the morning air,

sharp and crushed-mint fine,
moth-wing wind dancing

among the grasses of the ditch.
~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~

It is not new to me,
this Hill,

moss-barked trees
leaf-ringed and silent
in the soft bronze of
morning.

It is not new to me,
the leagues-distant
Sea-eye,

the smalt-deep of it
glowing like the very jewel
beneath-the-mountain.


It is all
that is new:


the untouchable beauty
of lace waves,

the bold-raced prow
of the Sun,

the grey of twilight
and the sound of water

singing amongst
the river-rocks.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Sun is sullen in Her mid-day tramp
when I return, still more than half a-dreme.

Uncle is all but-yet-abed, tea and seed-cake
scattered about the board,

his face alight, as always,
with the wanting of Adventures.


And I tell him my simple tale,
the Adventure small,
by compare
(as always mine have been).

Small as the stars, and just as distanced
by velvet wonder.

Later, we smoke a pipe in the garden,
the roses waxy beneath a risen Moon.

It is better than
dancing and cake

and dragon fire-works,
this.

It is better than the company of the Road.

It is our birth-day, kind and quiet and good.




~*~







Nan's Reunion-ICON ~ All Mechtild LJ entries featuring jan-u-wine's poems.

Welcome back, Mechtild!

[identity profile] diem-kieu94.livejournal.com 2016-09-22 01:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Lovely post as usual! This one may be one of Jan-u-wine's best poems yet!! :D The imagery is so vivid here - and the perspective of both Frodo and Bilbo! AH! Love it! It captures them so well!

I've missed you! Much has transpired since your last post. I'm currently in league with a new Frodo lover who's even newer and younger than ME! Man, I thought I was the pup around here! XD It's great to know that the love of Frodo's being passed on at least to some degree. I also graduated college this past May. YAY!

Happy Birthday to my favorite hobbits BY FAR! I'm celebrating with a Hobbit/LOTR marathon and new updates to my fanfictions! :D And of course... A raised glass to to you, Jan, and the whole Frodo and Bilbo loving community!! Hope to see you again here at the next Gondorian New Year! Until then... Take care and go there and back again for us! :)
shirebound: (Frodo in Cart - Annwyn55)

[personal profile] shirebound 2016-09-22 03:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Ohhhhh, this leaves me speechless with gratitude and love. The two of you are a joining that brings so much imagery and vision and inspiration to me.
ext_15996: (Bilbo's Party Hugs)

[identity profile] ink-gypsy.livejournal.com 2016-09-22 04:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Hear, hear! And welcome back!

[identity profile] ambree40.livejournal.com 2016-09-22 07:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you both for a lovely post and a very moving poem.

As Mechtild says in her introduction "I think his healing, if obliquely stated, is greatly in evidence"

Yes, the poem shows us a Frodo who has healed enough to see the beauty of nature all around him with clear eyes and a tranquil heart.

It warms the heart of this reader, far away across the Sundering Sea.

[identity profile] lavendertook.livejournal.com 2016-09-23 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
It's so good to see you both together again. Oh, I raise a glass in decrepit solidarity with you, Ms. Metchild. it's beautiful pic and fits well with is't sea eye beyond the trees.

So good to see Frodo content at home with Bilbo, Jan--all the simple and grand treasures of nature everywhere by his doorstep being enough for Frodo, and a dream of a little more being right for Bilbo--both forms of happiness together. Perfect to see them this way on their birthday.

<3

It's great to see you!

[identity profile] maewyn-2.livejournal.com 2016-09-23 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, this is lovely! Jan-u-wine paints a beautiful word picture that enables you to see the scenes very clearly in your mind's eye. It exudes a very gentle and restful presence.

How are you? Long time no "see"! I hope your mother is doing well - she must be in her 90's now?

Time just moves so fast. I'm a grandmother now, twice over. :) A 3-year-old boy and a 13-month old girl. It's wonderful!

[identity profile] julchen11.livejournal.com 2016-09-23 10:46 am (UTC)(link)
What a lovely and lovingly post, my dear.
And Jan's poem... so very touching... mindblowing...

Welcome back, Mechtild!
And thank you both for this great tribute.

I'm more than grateful being part of this loving family!
Here's to the Shire family! and to all Bagginses lovers!
*hugs you both*

Oh how lovely!!!

[identity profile] mary keesling (from livejournal.com) 2016-09-23 11:21 am (UTC)(link)
A perfect match on their birth-day -- JRRT's Art, Jan's poem, and Mechtild's commentary, all fresh & sweet.

I agree with M, the words of the poem put you instantly on that road (and later, in that kitchen nook), with Frodo & Bilbo.
There is a line about the air being as sharp as the newborn rocks, and I know what that means... And oh how I miss that air, which happens here where I love perhaps 2 days out of 365 (in Alaska, it's daily, making one feel alive).
But I digress !
I can see the diademing caused by the dew, I can see the untouchable lacy waves, and I understand this:

"... and just as distanced
by velvet wonder"

As my own childhood memories fade, alarmingly. But this is life. And it's good.

It's especially beautiful when enhanced by such lovely art & poetry.

Bless you two. I know that JRRT would be thrilled at the care and love shown his work. Mary K