A Survival Poem for Frodo, two other Tolkien works (Sam, and Galadrie)

A Survival Poem for Frodo                [sympathy]
     
Do not make me go into that bitter darkness.
The mind, once whole, has been battered.
Scars there are, scars that are invisible to the eye.
So I look to the West, to lands beyond sea.

The mind wanders in stray paths,
lost to time’s ravishing decay.
The old haunts no longer hold that
naivety of time before the Journey.

I have been lost.
The others have returned, whole.
There is life here for them.
Yet not for me.

These eyes have seen too much.
There is no cure for me here.
The Eastern Shores cannot absolve this pain.
Does this sacrifice ever end?

I have been reduced to silence.
I have no peace left, even on native soil.
Must I wither after all that I have been through?
Where now is there to retreat?

The Way is Shut.
I have no place to flee.
Yet perhaps not so.
Perhaps there is mercy.

It is a singular burden to bear.
Yet this is my burden alone.
So shall I stand as an old tree.
I must weather this storm.










This poem is set during the time when Frodo returns from destroying the ring, and is living in the Shire before he leaves with Gandalf and Bilbo from the Grey Havens.

I'll post also two other poems I've written about Tolkien's work -- however, these are not entered in the contest. Just thought I'd share them though.







"This is from Galadriel's point of view, but is more focused on events from THE SILMARILLION when Feanor and his legion of Nolder Elves leave Valinor in pursuit of the Silmarils.  Feanor takes ships and crosses the sea, and leaves Fingolfin's people behind.  They have to cross Heleaxe (not right, but I don't have the book with me), which is the Grinding ice.  Galadriel was in this crossing. "


Galadriel and the Grinding Ice

The ice has stolen over our minds
as the Jewel of the Two Trees' light consumes his mind.
He left us behind in treachery
to pursue that which should not have been lost.
Our people die as the cold consumes us.
Have you felt the frost beat into your body?

We could see the ships burning,
and as Fingolfin watched anger arose in his heart.
Feanor the betrayer.
Feanor, who laughs at the summons of Manwe,
he has led us all to a broken doom.
The curse will not break his spirit,
and Manwe weeps in the hallowed halls of Taniquetil.

We shall cross these grinding ices,
and then we shall endure other treacheries.




If you read Tolkien's letters, he is very harsh on Samwise, saying that he is what drives Gollum to taking them to Shelob's Lair.  Oft times Sam is both a cherished and beloved character, but if you read the last half of The Two Towers, you realise how he is both uncharitable and a blind character.  His love for Frodo becomes a weakness instead of a strenght, and he has no understanding of Frodo's and Gollum's complex relationship.  I don't remember what letter it is, but Tolkien himself holds Samwise responsible for driving Gollum over the edge, taking them to Shelob's Lair.  Toward the end of Chapter 8 (The Stairs of Cirith Ungol), there's a scene where Gollum looks like a bent old hobbit (the two hobbits are asleep), very wayworn and very cruel.  He is debating to take them to Shelob -- then Sam wakes up and is very cruel to him.


Sam and Smeagol

Sam mocks him.
He does not understand him.
For the master, he says,
and for the master indeed.
Spit him with arrows.
Kill the vile creature.
Gollum'd just as soon sell
us out to Orcs, Sam thinks.
Gollum is hurt,
crushed, a tragic figure
in a broken, wasteing land.
But Frodo blinds his eyes,
and for once he sees protection.
Goodness.  Perhaps a little mercy.
Is there a such thing for repentance?
Be good, Smeagol, be very good.
But the slow, stupid hobbit is cruel.
He understands little,
and thinks himself acting in the best
interest of the Master.
The Master of the Precious is more a hobbit
than he shall ever be.
Gollum turns from Smeagol
for Sam is to blind to understand him.
Now She shall grow fat on their meat.
Perhaps then he shall recover the Precious.