Errantry

A poem created by J.R.R. Tolkien

There was a merry passenger,

a messenger a mariner:

he built a gilded gondola

to wander in and had in her

a load of yellow oranges

and porridge for his provender;

he perfumed her with marjoram,

and cardamom and lavender.

He called the winds of Argosies,

with cargoes in to carry him,

across the rivers seventeen,

that lay between to tarry him.

He landed all in loneliness,

where stonily the pebbles on,

the running river Derrilyn,

goes merrily for ever on.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">He journeyed then through meadow-lands,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">to shadow-land that dreary lay,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and under hill and over hill,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">went roving still a weary way.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">He sat and sang a melody,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">his errantry a tarrying,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">he begged a pretty butterfly,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">that fluttered by to merry him.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">She scorned him and she scoffed at him,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">she laughed at him unpitying,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">so long he studied wizardry,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and segaldry and smithying.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">He wove a tissue very thin,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">to snare her in; to follow her,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">he made him beetle-leatherwing,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and feather wing of swallow hair.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">He caught her in bewilderment,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">with filament of spider-thread.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">He made her soft pavilions,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">of lilies and a bridal bed,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">of flowers and of thistle-down,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">to nestle down and rest her in,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and silken webs of filmy white,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and silver light he dressed her in.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">He threaded gems and necklaces,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">but recklessly she squandered them,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and fell to bitter quarrelling,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">then sorrowing he wandered on,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and there he left her withering

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">as shivering he fled away;

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">with windy weather following,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">on swallow-wing he sped away.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">He passed the achipelagoes,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">where yellow grows the marigold,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">with countless silver fountains are,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and mountains are of fairy-gold.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">He took to war and foraying,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">a harrying beyond the sea,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and roaming over Belmary,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and Thellamie and Fantasie.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">He made a shield and morion,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">of coral and of ivory.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">A sword he made of emerald,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and terrible his rivalry,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">with elven knights of Aerie

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and Faerie, with paladins

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">that golden-haired, and shining-eyed

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">came riding by, and challenged him.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">Of crystal was his habergeon,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">his scabbard of chalcedony,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">with silver tipped and plenilune,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">his spear was hewn of ebony.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">H <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">is javelins were of malachite

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and stalactite - he brandished them,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and went and fought the dragon flies,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">of Paradise, and vanquished them.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">He battled with the Dumbledors,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">the Hummerhorns, and Honeybees,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and won the Golden Honeycomb,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and running home on sunny seas,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">in ship of leaves and gossamer,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">with blossom for a canopy,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">he sat and sang, and furbished up,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and burnished up his panoply.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">He tarried for a little while,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">in little isles that lonely lay,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and found their naught but blowing grass.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">And so at last, the only way he took, and turned,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and coming home with honeycomb,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">o memory his message came,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and errand too!

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">In derring-do and glamoury,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">he had forgot them,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">journeying and tourneying, a wanderer.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">So now he must depart again,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">and start again bis gondola,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">for ever still a messenger a passenger, a tarrier,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">a roving as a feather does,

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana;font-size:small;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">a weather-driven mariner.