I am reading something new

So I have decided to read a bit of poetry. I was thinking of reading more of harry potter but the spirit has moved me differently. In honor of this shifting wind here is a poem I like and perhaps fitting.

The Road Goes Ever On

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 eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.


J. R. R. Tolkien

It sounds a bit different in the books. Bilbo first pens something like this in the hobbit. and it goes something like.

Roads go ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains of the moon.

Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.

And like the changing scenery of any one's travels it changes still in the Lord of the Rings books.

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 eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

And there is a final verse to this poem that was written in the lord of rings books at the end.

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.

I think it is fitting for this poem to change so much from a few simple lines to more lines and lines that change, because that is the way of things. The journeys always start off easy and simple but they have a tendency to get more complicated as we go.