Might be that he's tired--maybe he's had a lot going on lately. Or it might be that people's faces tend to look thinner when they're grown up than when they're children or teenagers (i believe)...anyway, who knows? Poor thing. I hope he's getting enough sleep.

lol
As for my own contribution, i would like to post three of the poems i've written concerning our dear Lij. (It's not just Frodo I write about, though i have more poems about him.

) These are part of what i call the 'ORC cycle', because they deal with how hard it was (still is, perhaps) for me to let go and 'say goodbye' after seeing Elijah and Sean at the One Ring Celebration (ORC

). The first one (Glory and Goodbye) was written fairly soon afterwards (actually, i started it while i was still there, when i realized that there would come an end to this time eventually

). The next one (Twilight Reflections) was written during a twilight walk on Elijah's birthday, a week after ORC. Writing it helped me come more to terms with ORC being over. (It kind of merges from talking 'to' Lij into talking 'to' Frodo at the end, though...but i like how it turned out--that's kind of an aristic--well, poetic--device i sometimes like to use...) The third one I wrote after having a dream, long afterwards, about being back at ORC. I got to talk with Peter Beagle (author of The Last Unicorn, a book my mom and i love) again, like we had before. (Not everyone or everything there had to do with lotr, like Mr. Beagle for instance.

) But even in the dream, i knew that the heart of the reason why i'd want to go back wasn't present there anymore--the Ringbearers were gone. It made for kind of a bittersweet song. Anyway, i hope you like these.
Glory and Goodbye
Verse 1
More bright than the stars was the light in my eyes--
It sparkled and kindled to answer the skies:
To think of my Sunshine in wond'ring surmise--
I felt like the dancing Dawn, waiting to rise!
Yet as I behold
The Sunset's sweet gold,
My story is told and the Night deepens cold.
Chorus
How can we go on
When the glory must fade?--
As Dusk follows Dawn,
In beauty arrayed,
That light pales wan
Where so gladly I strayed--
When glory is gone,
The night can't be stayed.
Verse 2
This day I would gaze on one dear to my heart,
Who gave us the Questor I loved from the start--
What light in reality life can impart!--
I look on the player outside of his art:
But what can I say?--
They've all gone away--
This light cannot stay and my Havens are grey.
Verse 3
To simply be near you, my heart longs to dance--
Though love gives no reason, your presence enchants--
Though Earth wonders why I should walk in a trance,
Unearthly is love--and it dwells in my glance.
This knife cuts too deep--
Too wounded to weep,
What sadness I reap for the love that I keep!
Bridge
The Dusk deepens down and the Star-fires burn--
So longsome and lonely till Light shall return--
With Midnight before me, for Morning I yearn,
Yet I have the moonlight, her beauty to learn.
Verse 4
God go with you, players--you've spun me a spell!--
Be blessed, you whose eyes heaven's height can't exell!
The joy of this maid with no words can she tell--
O Ringbearers, heart-friends, I bid you farewell!
With peace now falls Eve--
Though sunsets must leave,
That rest I receive and no longer I grieve.
Twilight reflections
I walk at the dying of day,
Soft singing ere Sun wanes away:
Though glory cannot ever stay,
My heart never from you shall stray!
There's a moment
Ere the glory must die--
There are rainbows
In the changeful grey sky:
There's a quiet
Like the last lullaby,
Ere the Sun goes--
And Earth fades with a sigh.
In these halls of slow-deepening blue,
With the dusk veiling all from my view--
As the stars kindle silver anew--
Menel once more reminds me of you!
Heaven's laughter
I can see in your eyes:
Like the morrow,
Lost in Anar's sweet rise!--
Elvenfire
Caught me up to realize
Why I love you--
'Tis for who past it lies.
Though the Sun from bright amber must wane,
Still the night-fall comes sweet--without pain:
As I look to the veil of rain,
At day's end I remember again:
Love is always,
Though the night follows noon--
Dawn's no farther
Than the Dusk coming soon!--
Lost on far ways,
Neath the glimmering Moon--
Looking Star-ward,
I hear Ear's sweet tune:
Look for me
By the Sea--
Here I"ll be
Wistfully:
Heart bound to thee--
Eternally.
In Dreams and Memory
When night came, I found myself dreaming
That I walked through the Festival Halls,
Where heirlooms and Elfrobes were gleaming--
For Middle-earth ever enthralls:
A Ringer, delighted I wandered
The place where I've longed to return:
Yet those for whom memory lingered
Were gone--and still dreaming I yearn.
This castle is shorn of its glory--
It left with our lords, fair and fleet:
I met with a dreamer whose story
I love and was glad him to greet--
His Unicorn's wand'rings entrance me--
Yet an Elf-friend in his caught my heart:
The player who ever enchants me
Came hither--and Time bade us part.
A Faeryland bright and unearthly
These halls to a Ringer would seem--
For others know Arda is worthy,
That hearts should fly thither to dream!--
And wondering joy there was shining
Through eyes that would look on their light--
His radiance set, and slow pining,
I sorrow and wander the Night.
I cannot bring life to this ember--
The blaze that I loved is banked down--
But yet I will always remember
The day when delight was my crown:
When others rekindle the Fire,
My path by thine own may be crossed--
That the empty halls fill I desire,
Yet though Evening falls, love is not lost--
For you I will welcome the cost.