Forgotten Ground Regained
Tree and Leaf
Tolkien is leaning back into an oakOld, gnarled, distinct in bole and burrAs, from the burr and bowl of his old pipe,Packed with tightly patterned shreds of leaf,The smoke ascends in rings and wreathes of airTo catch the autumn light and meet such leavesAs circle through its wreathes and patter downIn patterns of their own to the rich ground.
He contemplates again the tree of tales;The roots of language and its rings of growth‘The tongue and tale and teller all coeval’And he becomes a pattern making patterns,A tale telling tales and turning leaves,From the print of thumb and finger on his pipeTo the print and press and pattern of his booksAnd all their prints and imprints in our mindsOut to this grainy patterned photographOf ‘Tolkien, leaning back into an oak’.
Copyright © Malcolm Guite, 2013. Reprinted with permision from The Singing Bowl.
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