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 throat 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 fountain white beneath the sky;
but never did fountain sound so sweet
as splashing Hot Water with my feet!

J.R.R. Tolkien

1 comment:

Liz said...

I've always loved that poem. I thought that it was really too bad that Peter Jackson missed putting those moments on film. The comic relief they provide could have replaced some of the overly long stuff between Gandalf and Sauron for example. I mean how much CGI do you really need to get the point that Sauron imprisons Gandalf. Anyway I agree with the Hobbits about the delight of a hot bath (even if I avoid Pippin's enthusiasm which soon has the floor awash).