Hear my song gentle lords and lasses
A tale that’s strange but true
About a halfling, and his squire
With eyes of wondrous blue
A long expected party raised
A shadow from the past
For seventeen years a wizard
Sought to find the truth at last
When a young halfling acquired a ring
From his most ancient kin
A simple ring, a golden band
With markings that lie within
For within this Ring an evil slept
A malice quite renown
As its master sought to reclaim
His Middle Earthen crown
Sending out his emissaries
The evil weaved his spell
A silent call, a tracking ball
A Balrog released in a dell
Away the halflings ran in terror
Without a path or track
Into an old forest they fled
Pursued by riders of black
At the sign of the Prancing Pony
A wanderer appears
A dance, a slip, a tumbling fall
And the halfling disappears
Within the circle of Weathertop
A knife wound in the dark
For fourteen days he bore the shard
Which left a permanent mark
Finally arriving at Imladris
A much needed respite
A council met, a halfling spoke
A journey south for the light
Over plain and towards the mountains tall
And to the Mine of Dooms
For one his fate is sealed
To fall where darkness looms
Now eight must go on leaderless
To elven realm they fare
Lothlorien, with its golden sun
Favors of the lady they share
The great river runs past many shores
Effortlessly flowing
The fellowship has broken
Two depart, quietly going
Unmapped hills they cautiously roam
One to guard, one to sleep
A magic rope, slippery knot
A way down a cliff so steep
And eastward towards an evil gate
That way lies the keep
The Gollum creature joins the twain
As into the marsh they creep
A moon shines over the creeping fens
The wanderers tread light
Evil faces, some fair, some foul
Make such a ghastly sight
Free from the marsh, to lands that are dead
No rest for the weary
Orcs roaming the battlements make
The black gates entrance leery
No entrance will they seek here for
The journey proving vain
Then Gollum spoke, was it a joke
What debate was in his brain
So southwards through Gondorian’s Garden
A longer trek they share
The gardens free of evils stain
They wander with little care
Capture by an honorable steward
Provisions for their packs
A walking staff, a healing heart
A guide for Ithilian tracks
One day the dam broke, war came at last
A dark cloud covers all
Almost lost to his companions
Nearly hearing the ring’s call
Up to meet fate at Cirith Ungol
Up the straight stairs they plod
Shoulders aching, muscles quaking
The stairs are not easily trod
The fear of falling ever present
This pass they start to rue
Gollum knows of a secret way
But is this companion true
A still, dark tunnel awaits the three
The halflings are betrayed
Gollum seeks, and a spider creaks
And a costly choice is made
Now through the Tower in the pass
Desperately climbing
The separation of these two friends
Has left both halflings crying
Finally back together at last
Toiling through thirst and pain
The simple sun, a single star
Wishing is all that remains
As the age draws to a final end
My tale is nearly through
The quest stood on the edge of a knife
One direction was true
It seems the pity of each lost soul
Bears the equivalent
of two.
