My devotional this morning reminded me of the Song of Samwise in the Orc Tower from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King (Vol. 3 of The Lord of the Rings trilogy). It's always seemed to me to be a very liturgical poem—so much so that I have often read it at the end of my Good Friday service in church. So this morning I set it to the hymn tune Amberley and made a video:
Words:
In western lands beneath the Sun
the flowers may rise in Spring,
the trees may bud, the waters run,
the merry finches sing.
Or there maybe 'tis cloudless night
and swaying beeches bear
the evening* stars as jewels white
amid their branching hair.
Though here at journey's end I lie
in darkness buried deep,
beyond all towers strong and high,
beyond all mountains steep,
above all shadows rides the Sun
and Stars forever dwell:
I will not say the Day is done,
nor bid the Stars farewell.
*Tolkien wrote "elven"
