Written for the LOTR Community Riddle Poem challenge. For RabidSamFan for her birthday.
Time on One’s Hands
a riddle poem
I have time on my hands,
But not always the same.
In Harad I am water,
In Gondor a flame.
*
Dwarves catch me in iron,
In ratchets and wheels;
Elves see me in seasons,
In the stars in their reels.
*
I’ll sit on the mantel
And my heart beats away.
What I measure is formless
And too oft slips away.
*
No one asks me a question,
But consult me they do;
And if they neglect me,
My tale won’t be true.
*
Although I run always,
I can’t stir a foot.
I have hands but no arms,
And my foot wears no boot.
*
Now guard I a letter
Left at the dawn of the day;
And if he fails to look soon
His chance slips away.
…Time to work and time to play,
And so it sings throughout the day.
From an old nursery rhyme.