Of all the things in Middle-Earth
That I remember with regret,
Of all things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small;
Of all the things I miss the most,
The wanderings I can’t forget,
There is one secret in my heart
Which I’ll miss most of all:

I wore a hat of Elven grey
Atop my head with silver framed.
Its point was bent from battering,
Its life a constant storm.
It rode with me through sea and sky
And through the wilderness untamed.
In summer’s heat it shaded me,
In winter kept me warm.

I counted it a loyal friend.
It kept me dry in rain and snow.
Though stained a bit by leaves and sweat,
And one edge slightly frayed,
‘Twas proudly borne and proudly stood.
It followed me where I would go–
Deep into caves where waited doom,
I fell, and there it strayed.

And now upon my aging brow
A thing unstained, so strange to me:
White as the eyes of newborn earth,
It catches glints of sun.
Still I remember my old hat,
Its death, like mine, so fiery.
Though this new hat may grow on me,
I’ll always love that one.