The Last Time

Now It is late
And the road is long
But as I start out
I hear a song

Come floating to me
On the evening breeze
Curling softly ’round mountains
And whispering through trees

A song slightly Elvish
Yet a style of its own
So unlike the many
Songs I have known

A voice soft and lonly
Alone and forlorn
A voice in a night
That is yearning for morn

A voice recalling
Memories as it sings
Of a life of joy
And forgotton things

A voice remembering
A life full of dreams
The wind in the meadows
And the rippling streams

I stop and pause to listen
To the memories, familiar, and yet unknown
And my heart aches as I realize
The song is my own:

This is the last time
I will sing my departure song
This is the last time
I will look back and see
What has been home to me
For so long

This is the last time
I will look back to my own door
This is the last time
I will feel the wind in my face
Here in this place
My home no more

This is the last time
I will look back on what has been
This is the last time
I will breathe the shire’s sweet air
Taste the beauty everywhere
Never again

I stand still and listen
as the voice fades away
the voice in a night
that is hoping for day