In J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Hobbit, as Bilbo returns to the Shire after his adventures, he breaks into a song that begins with the line “The road goes ever on and on”. The song emphasizes the adventures and ordeals that he has been through, and how glad he is to be home again.
A similar poem with the same first line and the same rhyming meter comes up in The Lord of the Rings when Bilbo is leaving the Shire again to go to Rivendell. In that version, The words, apart from that first line are different. In that version Bilbo explains how he feels drawn to make this journey to Rivendell.
Bilbo uses the same poem again when he meets Frodo and the other hobbits in Rivendell on their way home after disposing of the Ring. In this third version, it is as if Tolkien is encouraging his readers towards adventure.
The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.
Although Bilbo is a tired sleepy hobbit at this stage, he is telling us that there are adventures out there for those of us willing and able to accept them. And in that line “Out from the door where it began”, he is telling us what the first step is in any adventure: you have to step outside your front door. Take to the road; break out of your comfort zone. There is a whole world waiting out there, but first you have to step outside.
The song is classed as a walking song, and there are other walking songs in The Lord of the Rings that tell us what to do once we have stepped outside. Towards the end of the book, as Frodo and Sam are walking about the Shire, Frodo sings the lines:
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
How often go the same route every time, and never wonder what it would be like if we chose a different way? What would happen if I went down that street instead of taking my usual way to work? It is not all about getting there quicker. You might even lose ten minutes, but in other ways be all the better for it. The other route might simply be the most interesting thing you will see that day. Wherever that land is that is west of the sun and east of the moon, it must be an amazing place. But we will never find it if we just do the same thing every day, and never break out of our routines.
It sometimes happens as I walk in Basel that I notice a street that I have never taken before, and on that basis, I will walk that street instead of my usual route. I have not yet found myself west of the sun and east of the moon, but it has led me to some of the more interesting parts of the city. Outside of the city, this approach has allowed me to see natural sights that I would otherwise never have known: landscapes, animals, and plants.
So the exhortation is for us to step outside, to walk where we have not been, and maybe, just maybe, we will bring some adventure into our lives. And it is worth remembering that adventure and romance (in the widest sense of that word) are brother and sister.
Walkingman 