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

[mechtild]

~*~

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:

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.

~*~

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

Comments

It's great to see you!

[maewyn-2.livejournal.com]

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!

Re: It's great to see you!

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Isn't it a fine piece? Yes, when you read it you experience it.

Twice a gran! You must have your hands full, your heart full, your time full. :)

My mom is very frail and mostly unhappy, but happy when I come. She would love me to leave my home and family to come and live there and take care of her till she dies, but I just can't, or won't. I am so sorry for her, and love her, but I want and need my own life, home and family. It doesn't stop me being anxious over her all the time, though. Thank goodness our daughter is happy and well. I don't think I could survive worrying about her, too. We also watch over my husband's mother who will be 90 in November. But she is a much more cooperative person than my mom, much more extroverted and enjoys what she can of her life, in spite of the diminishments of old age, especially short term memory loss. Oh-my mother is 93.

Nice to see you, Maewyn, virtually speaking!

Re: It's great to see you!

[jan-u-wine.livejournal.com]

thank you, Maewyn.....so very glad that you enjoyed the post so much (and congratulations on being a grand-mum. Yikes, those ages will keep you young and hobbit-hopping!)