Happy 126th Birthday, Professor Tolkien!
I am so grateful this man lived and created such wonders for so many to enjoy and cherish. What Tolkien wrote, even if categorized 'fantasy', always had the ring of truth, from the external settings to the deepest experiences of the characters. Tolkien's lived experience, transformed by creative imagination, resulted in unforgettable art.
Six years ago jan-u-wine, inspired by the photograph of Tolkien below, standing by the sea he loved, wrote a beautiful tribute to the Professor for his birthday. I thought it could do with re-posting.
On the Greatness and Littleness of Being
Perhaps,
upon this shore,
a leaden dog
was lost,
perhaps
these waves
bore
the sway and chime
of a Ring-bearer's Sea Bell.
Perhaps,
upon a glimmer'd even-tide,
a swan-prow'd ship
ran out
amongst these rocks....
Perhaps mer-men
and their fish-tailed maids
cavorted here.
Perhaps..........
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
He is a
Big Person,
this man.
Yet,
ever so greatly *small*,
inside,
his heart and artist's
fingers
filling the mind's vast
sky with the unending stars,
yet
bending,
to pluck,
with fragile deliberation,
a single, storied
shell
from the sun-gilded Sea.
He knows of littleness
and greatness,
this man.
He knows.
His face is worn now,
worn by all that is life:
the joys,
the sorrows,
the things he may touch
and those which he never
shall.
Ah.
Weary,
the eyes which have known
the ever-widening circles of the world,
weary
and
wise.
Full of loves known and yearnings
unfulfilled,
beyond time,
beyond place,
beyond Wood or Sea,
Mountain
or Shore,
beyond words
or pastel'd brush-strokes......
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Birthdays and blessings.
The former, upon this day,
within the echoing shell
of these hours,
yours.
The latter, through the beauty
of your being,
from the grand music
of your pencil,
ours.
Happy 126th birthday J. R. R. Tolkien, with poem by jan-u-wine.
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Good luck, East Coast folks!
~*~ 'Ships on a Stormy Sea' by Jan Porcellis. Best of luck and God bless you, East Coast friends, as you brace for Hurricane Irene. I…
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~*~ There's bears in them thar hills! Yesterday evening, in deep dusk after a day of storms, I was reading in bed when my husband came dashing…
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