The cold hard lands
From Tolkien Gateway
"The cold hard lands" is a song "written" by Gollum, sung in "The Passage of the Marshes".
Text
The cold hard lands
they bites our hands,
they gnaws our feet.
The rocks and stones
are like old bones
all bare of meat.
But stream and pool
is wet and cool:
so nice for feet!
And now we wish—
At this point Gollum interrupted himself to allude to the riddle-game he and Bilbo Baggins partook in many decades before:
Alive without breath;
as cold as death;
never thirsting, ever drinking;
clad in mail, never clinking.
Drowns on dry land,
think as island
is a mountain;
thinks a fountain
is a puff of air.
So sleek, so fair!
What a joy to meet!
We only wish
to catch a fish,
so juicy-sweet!
