THE TOLKIEN VERSE OF THE WEEK

Bilbo's Bath Song

Sing hey! for the bath at close of day

That washes the weary mud away!

A loon is he that will not sing:

O! Water Hot is a noble thing!

O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain,

and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;

but better than rain or rippling streams

is Water Hot that smokes and steams.

O! Water cold we may pour at need

down a thirsty thoat and be glad indeed;

but better is Beer, if drink we lack,

and Water Hot poured down the back.

O! Water is fair that leaps on high

in a fountaing white beneath the sky;

but never did fountain sound so sweet

as splashing Hot Water with my feet!