I recently read an article which documented the little known relationship of J.R.R. Tolkien and the love of life, his wife Edith. Tolkien, along with the other “Inklings” were noted for one liners and titles intended to shock, pique the reader’s interest, and demand thought. Tolkien’s letter to his son on the eve of the young man’s wedding was no exception with the first sentence being, “Men are not monogamous.” The elder Tolkien’s subsequent explanation of that statement is the inspiration for this poem, but if his introductory statement has you thinking, “What the…?”, please read the article.

Yonder

If its pleasure you seek
Sole in the company you keep
Insatiable will be your desiring

Soon you tire of the now
Convinced the here is the how
All delights for you are denying

Yonder lights are much brighter
Their garden yields sweeter
If he could find “Yonder”
Always dreams there are fonder

He chaffs at the yielding
To the needs of his building
He sees the work now as his fettering

He curses his gifts
He builds instead rifts
And looks away far for his bettering

Yonder lights are much brighter
Their garden yields sweeter
If we could find “Yonder”
Where dreams are much fonder

To win we find losing
To love we face choosing
It is not for the weak and the reveling

For in our natural state
We tug, champ, and debate
As to love’s here and now are just meddling

Yonder lights are much brighter
Their garden yields sweeter
If I could find “Yonder”
Whose dreams are much fonder

For I am the causing
For a future that’s rousing
I miss what is real and is happening

For here there is pleasure
But I make the measure
By embracing the work that is beckoning

I am building a family
To neglect that is tragedy
This my choice and my reckoning

My choice is to love
Yes, its taught from Above
To love here and now is not settling

Yonder lights are not brighter
My garden here is much sweeter
The learning if we ponder
To love here and now and not “Yonder”

                                               – Andy Torbett