3 : A Road We Shall Walk Together
In time, Sam,
whether wounded or wearied
by the slow spillage of days,
we perforce take ship and depart.
Where once I sought
the gentle green,
the sweet, sunlit comfort
of Home,
now I see only the deep, certain blue
of the endless Sea,
I hear only waves upon that distant Shore.
You must try to understand,
Sam....
I must try to understand.
There was never
really any escape....
only the odd sort of frightened comfort
I find in familiar darkness.
This good-bye is only a part of the one we said
that long-ago day
when we set out.
This good-bye,
like that one,
may lead us Home again.
When you grow weary,
Sam,
and the lonely moments of the day become only pain in your heart,
across the wide Sea,
I wait for you.
Ring-bearer.
My friend,
My Gardener,
My Sam.
There is still a Road we shall walk together.
I will not say good-bye.
