Tolkien Reading Day takes place annually on March 25th, the anniversary of the destruction of the One Ring and the Fall of Sauron. In celebration of this momentous literary occasion, here’s an expanded update of my previous Tolkien music playlist “Hobbit Day 2021”. This takes us through the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit andContinue reading “Happy Tolkien Reading Day!”
Category Archives: poetry
The Rotting Horse on the Deadly Ground
As my fifty-first birthday approaches I’ve been waxing nostalgic and so, at the suggestion of my sister, have laboured long and hard putting together a retrospective metal playlist to serve as a soundtrack for the coming celebrations. I wanted it to sort of tell the story of how I became a headbanger thirty-six years agoContinue reading “The Rotting Horse on the Deadly Ground”
Though here we stand/In darkest night
I dreamt earlier this morning that I was writing these lyrics to music, to be sung by a choir. Though it was a simple tune, I couldn’t remember it upon waking, but I started jotting down as many of the words as I could recall as soon as I woke up, and I think IContinue reading “Though here we stand/In darkest night”
Best Laid Schemes
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ MenGang aft agley ~Robert Burns, “To a Mouse” Once there was a mouseWho had the rule of the house‘Til the house’s owner got a cat,And that was the end of that. And so the mouse hid in his holeAnd didn’t see another soulFor almost twenty daysAs he studiedContinue reading “Best Laid Schemes”
The Crimes of the Nation Are Your Crimes, Too
The crimes of the nation are your crimes, too The sins of the fathers they hand down to you The blood that you wash from your hands leaves a stain As large and as lasting as all that you gain From wrongs that continue to this very day And you’re guilty as hell for stillContinue reading “The Crimes of the Nation Are Your Crimes, Too”
Happy Tolkien Reading Day!
This post contains spoilers for both the book and film versions of The Lord of the Rings. March 25th is Tolkien Reading Day, because that’s the day J. R. R. Tolkien gave for the climactic event of his epic fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, when the One Ring went into the fire and theContinue reading “Happy Tolkien Reading Day!”
Fear the Fearless
Those who rule through fear, fear the fearless Who, broken on wheels that break bones, but will never break vows Sing out the song that is a battle cry Resounding to the furthest reaches Of the human imagination, we soar On wings woven for us by some Reckless Daedalus out of a tapestry of dreams.Continue reading “Fear the Fearless”
Snow Angel
pale as death she laybut with the apple’sblush upon her cheeks clad in silver samitelike her eyes thatmirrored snowy skies her long red hairfanned out about her facea fiery halo the bell sleeves of her lithe and outspread armsforming angel wings © 2022 by Strider Lee
Beneath the Voiceless Trees, Part II
This seems hardly worth an entry but when I posted my unfinished poem Beneath the Voiceless Trees I didn’t recall that a few years after I’d written it I’d actually added five more verses. As often happens, I came across them the other day quite by accident, while searching for something else. Of course, theContinue reading “Beneath the Voiceless Trees, Part II”
Wishing Well: An Original Fairy Tale
Today is National Tell a Fairy Tale Day, and I’ll be celebrating it by tweeting about some of my favourite fairy tales, but I also can’t resist this opportunity to share one of my own original fairy tales with you, Beloved Reader, so here’s one I wrote several years ago with the intention of self-publishingContinue reading “Wishing Well: An Original Fairy Tale”