Bilbo on Inevitability

Marj says thoughts of inevitability make her think of old Bilbo Baggins' song:

I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring that I shall ever see.

For there are still so many things that I have never seen;
in every wood in every spring there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think of people long ago,
and people who will see a world that I will never know.

But all the while I sit and think of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet and voices at the door.