Monday, June 02, 2008

You are lost, you can never go home

I can't get over this idea that there's a place I belong that I can't get to. There's a song that will explain all that's inside me but I can't write it. A place that, like Valinor, would make you completely content if only you could sail there. Unfortunately, the world is round and it is beyond the rim of the sea. I'm trapped here and I can't get out.
Tolkien says it best, or rather, Frodo does:

"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say."
"Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed,
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet:
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!
Home is behind, the world ahead
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead
We'll wander back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
way shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!"

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