With a start, Derik woke up, rubbing his eyes with the back of a hand and, after taking a look at it, utterly confused as to why he had a quill pen shape imprinted on the back of his hand. Suddenly it dawned on him that he had again dozed off over his homework again. Leaning back in the chair he was in, he was able to glance out a window down the hall and see the sun just starting to hide its glow behind the rooftop of the Academy. Rolling his eyes and stretching a little, he looked back at the problem he was attempting to solve before he fell asleep.

My fingers lightly touch the keys
my mind is filled with memories
of times I wish were here

My fingers make
the soft notes sing
of a day I wish would not come

The melody sends it's message
out
through the room

Can you hear
how much I love you?
Does my soul not
pour through to you?

I wish I could stay and play
and play so day
would stay

But as the last notes go
sailing through the last winds of the day
I realize
I cannot stay

Frodo, as dear to me as my Gaffer, grew up in the Shire, a peaceful quiet farmland. I knew him since the time that I was young; and he came to Hobbiton from Buckleberry when his mother and father died. Full of adventure and youth he was when in his younger happier years. I would clip his hedges for him when he was a bit older and more sober at fifty; therefore, bringing upon me the most life exciting, tear pouring quest of all time.

A clear cool morning
A creation of Glory
Telling the wonder of God

A starlit night
A desert flight
Telling a story of God

A wavy windy sea
A miracle on Galilee
Telling the words of God

A gloom dark in the sky
A cross raised high
Telling the mercy of God

A bright sky morning
A God risen in glory
Telling the hope of God

O wake ye weary sleepers
For Christ has come
O wake ye weary sleepers
For Christ will come again
O wake ye weary sleepers
For Christ has died
And he has risen
And will come again

In the darkness of night
A white horse shining
In the moonlight
Running in the
Darkness of night

Pounding hooves over plains
Mane and tail flowing in wind
Jumping streams and logs
running faster than the speed
Of light his black coat shining
In the sun running like wind

On mountains steep
Crossing dried plains
Stallion red flaming
Leading herds
Claiming land
Of the wild
Fighting stallions
Taking mares
Giant red stallion
On mountains steep

(As a preface to the following randomness... I'm writing from Franciscan University, where I am beginning my college education. I wrote the following piece just after my family left for home.)