Saturday 9 February 2013

Vice Human

Donato Giancola: The taming of Smeagol

The cold hard lands, 
they bites our hands, 
they gnaws our feet. 
The rocks and stones 
are like old bones 
all bare of meat. 
But stream and pool 
is wet and cool: 
so nice for feet! 
And now we wish -

Alive without breath; 
as cold as death; 
never thirsting, ever drinking; 
clad in mail, never clinking. 
Drowns on dry land, 
thinks an island 
is a mountain; 
thinks a fountain 
is a puff of air. 
So sleek, so fair! 
What a joy to meet! 
We only wish 
to catch a fish, 
so juicy-sweet!

(JRR Tolkien Gollum's Song in the Dead Marshes, The Two Towers Book 4, Chapter 'The Passage of the Marshes')