[Jessica Jade]

One of my all time favorites:

I sit beside the fire and think
Of all that I have seen,
Of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
In autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
And wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
Of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring
That I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
That I have never seen:
In every wood in every spring
There is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
Of people long ago,
And people who will see a world that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
Of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
And voices at the door.

-Bilbo Baggins, The Ring Goes South, The Fellowship of the Ring, page 271.
That one is so touching and nostalgic.

My ultimate favorite is Bilbo's famous Road Goes Ever On poem:

The road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began
Now far ahead the road has gone
And i must follow if I can
Persuing it with weary feet
Until it joins from larger way
Where many paths and errands
And whither then? I cannot say.
-page 72.
I can never get over that one. It's just simply so TRUE. And I can relate it to anything.

I cried in the last chapter as I read Frodo's Walking Song, in which "the words were not quite the same." Everything had changed so much.
Still round corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
-Frodo in The Gray Havens, The Return of the King, page 1005.
Soooo sad! [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

Bilbo's new version of the Walking Song is very nostalgic and touching too (also very sad):
The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

Well that's all i have for now. This is a nice thread-i think i'm going to start a favorite quotes one very soon, once I can compile all my favorites!