I can’t remember when I first read the poem, but the opening words (and the closing ones) have long been etched into my memory:

Day is ended, dim my eyes,
but journey long before me lies.

The poem of course is "Bilbo’s Last Song (at the Grey Havens)," one Tolkien wrote late in life. It was first published in 1974, the year after his death, as a poster with a background illustration by Pauline Baynes. I wonder what has became of my copy of that poster (it probably got mauled long ago when it was on the wall in my college dorm), but I copied the text of the poem itself (it is only twenty-four lines), and that favored transcription survived the years until 1990, when the poem was published as a book, this time with many illustrations by Pauline Baynes.

The 1990 book has just been re-issued by Alfred A. Knopf in a redesigned form. The first edition was a large sized book, with an illustration for each couplet of the poem, along with some bottom-of-the-page illustrations, separated by a decorative border, showing scenes from The Hobbit. Baynes’s illustrations are charming, and they nicely complement the text. The new redesigned version (ISBN 0375823735, hardcover, $12.95) is in a smaller format (about half the size of the 1990 one). The design is changed slightly throughout, and some small things are omitted (like the decorative borders separating the illustrations to The Hobbit on the lower part of each page), but in general, the new design is superior to the old one, and the book is quite attractive. It should make a great gift for the Tolkien fan who has almost everything.

Here is a scan of the cover of the book:

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And here is the final couplet, with Bilbo saying goodbye to Middle-earth as he sees the Undying Lands ahead:

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The poem as well serves well as Tolkien’s own farewell.

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--Turgon