Roads go ever ever on,
Under cloud and under star.
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen,
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green,
And trees and hills they long have known.

Having listened to The Hobbit twice in the last year or so, I am taken with just how brilliant a jewel of a book it is, rather like the Arkenstone (pictured above) with its many facets and deep beauty.

Yes, with a relative lightness of tone, The Hobbit is a children’s book. However, as it progresses, as the heroes come within the influence of the dragon and his hoarded gold, it takes on more serious themes. And Bilbo, who has been growing in physical and moral courage throughout the novel, tries to ransom the great treasure of the Arkenstone to avoid bloodshed. His immediate reward is to be harshly cursed and banished by Thorin Oakenshield, in the bitter breaking of a friendship. The scene where Thorin lies dying and asks Bilbo’s forgiveness will break your heart. It does break Bilbo’s:

Then Bilbo turned away, and he went by himself, and sat alone wrapped in a blanket, and, whether you believe it or not, he wept until his eyes were red and his voice was hoarse. He was a kindly little soul. Indeed it was long before he had the heart to make a joke again.

The song at the top of this post is one that Bilbo sings when arriving back at the Shire. “Eyes that fire and sword have seen, / And horror in the halls of stone / Look at last on meadows green.” Is he thinking of the sickening inevitability of bloodshed he sensed coming in the halls of the Lonely Mountain or perhaps he is thinking of Thorin being laid to rest with the Arkenstone on his breast and nephews Kili and Fili flanking him in death.

Bilbo’s return journey home, with long stops in Beorn’s home and Rivendell and accompanied by Gandalf, is healing in many ways, but, similar to his nephew Frodo many years later, he will never be the same.