The Road Goes Ever On, also known as A Walking Song, is a walking song by J.R.R. Tolkien, fictionally written by Bilbo Baggins; verses of it are sung at various places in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. This poem was set to music by Donald Swann; the sheet music and an audio recording are part of the song-cycle aptly named The Road Goes Ever On, A Song Cycle.
The original version of the song is recited by Bilbo in the last chapter of The Hobbit, at the end of his journey back to the Shire. Coming to the top of a rise he sees his home in the distance, and stops and says the following:
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains of the moon.
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.
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