Arise now, arise, reticent hobbits!
The dawning day brings delightful surprises!
A sensational celebration, fruits of self-creation,
the anniversary of The Hobbit, amplified by age.

All of Eighty-nine years, but still ageless.
Far from your coming of age, fleeting still,
but middle age gone, generations drawn away.
A ways away still, old age, like weary Bilbo and Old Took.

Yes, a long life left still yet ahead.
More than enduring—inspiring and igniting
the fires of youth, unifying with you,
just like the hobbits, an homage in the highest.

Photo by Zac Smith on Unsplash

The Hobbit, written by the masterful J.R.R. Tolkien, was published on this day in 1937. He preferred alliterative verse over modern rhyme schemes or forms, and Old English at that.

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