Sam stirred, and felt the sun warm and bright upon his face. A cool air breathed upon him, and he heard the sound of singing so fair it seemed his heart must burst. He lay still and breathed deeply, then slowly he opened his eyes.

At first he saw only light, so bright it seemed he must be standing in the midst of the stars. But he was not blinded; he gazed long into that brightness and was glad. And suddenly he was aware that he lay upon the ground, and leaves whispered and shimmered in the light above his head. And his master was beside him, his broken hand in Sam’s. The light seemed to grow ever brighter, and yet with each passing moment his vision was increased. He turned and looked at his master: Frodo lay upon the grass, and all about his head bloomed violets and white lilies. His eyes were bright as stars, and his fair face was radiant with joy. Suddenly he laughed aloud and sprang to his feet, pulling Sam up beside him. And Sam laughed too, joy welling up within from some well-spring so deep it seemed it must set the whole world to laughing. But Frodo smiled, and he said, ‘This is the beginning, Sam Gamgee, and now there will be no more ends. I am glad that you are with me.’

‘And I’m glad too, Mr. Frodo,’ Sam said, ‘gladder than I can say.’ Then he burst into tears, but they were tears of delight, and in the midst of them his laughter welled up again, like the rising of the dawn. And Frodo danced upon the dewy grass and sang with a clear bright voice in a tongue he had not known. The sound of it reminded Sam of the song of the stars, that he had heard once, long ago in fair Lothlórien, and again higher and clearer in the gardens of Lórien in the land of the Valar. But now he found that he knew the tongue in which Frodo sang, and his heart understood the words: and his own voice was lifted up in song.

Then as they danced upon the cool grass, they saw that a Man was standing there, robed as with light, his face shining like the sun. And each without a word slowed his dance and grew silent with awe. Sam felt as though all the heights and the glories that he had caught only dim glances of stood now suddenly revealed before him, and he hung back trembling. But Frodo remembered dancing flames and a circle of shining gold, and he bowed his head before the One who had delivered him.

Suddenly the Man smiled, and he called to them, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, dear children, for you have done well, and there are many here who wish to greet you. Come now, and walk with me.’ And he held out his hand to them.

Then Sam gave a great shout of surprise and in tears he cried, ‘Why Lord, your hands are wounded too!’ And the hobbits saw clearly that the Man bore dreadful scars in his hands, as though he had been pierced, and the light shone through them with a brilliance that was blinding.

But Frodo fell at his feet and taking his hand kissed the scar and cried aloud, ‘My Lord and my God!’ And suddenly Sam remembered all his talk with Frodo, and how he had wondered that his master should bear still so many wounds and scars even in the Blessed Lands. Then at last understanding, he knelt wordless and kissed the wounded hands of Ilúvatar Himself.

~*~*~

For long they remained there unmoving as men under an enchantment who, rapt with joy, forget the passage of time. Then suddenly the Lord laughed, a sound like the flowing of many waters in the spring that bring life and renewal to the frozen land, and he took them each by the hand and raised them up, and he said, ‘Come now and walk with me, dear children, and cast aside all the troubles of your hearts. Or do you wonder still, Samwise, that your friend’s hand should be wounded?’

Sam flushed, but he said only, ‘No Lord, I don’t wonder about that any more. I suppose my Elanor was right, all those years ago, when as a lass she used to call it his “beautiful hand”, but I didn’t know what she meant by it. And, well, if it’s not too much for me to say so, I think your hands are beautiful too, Lord, so as they’re like to make me cry.’ And he dared not look up as he spoke.

Then the Lord laughed again, so that it set the hobbits’ hearts to singing, and he said, ‘You have a wise heart, Samwise Gamgee. But now there is one who has long awaited you both, and when you have met with him, then I shall lead you to the glad home-coming for which you have looked, and many merry meetings.’

But Frodo said, ‘Lord, you know all the desire of my heart, and how greatly I have desired to see again those whom I have long missed. But now it seems to me that all home-comings are a coming to you. Therefore I am content, for I have seen the Lord.’

And Sam hearing this said, ‘I was looking specially to meet my Rosie again, but I reckon now Mr. Frodo has the right of it, and we’re home already. Still,’ he added shyly, ‘that’s not to say I wouldn’t mind seeing my Rose again, and a lot of other folks besides.’

Frodo laughed at that, and he said, ‘You are right as usual, Sam. I should dearly love to see them all again.’

‘And so you shall, and soon,’ said the Lord. ‘But now here is a meeting I know you have long desired, Frodo.’ And he led them beyond a screen of trees, and there was a bright clearing beside a singing brook, and flowers of all kinds grew in the sweet-scented grass, and willows trailed their silver leaves in the water. The bright air was full of butterflies.

In the midst of the clearing stood a man, his side turned to them, his gaze cast upward in wonder to follow the dance of swans in the high airs, and he did not see them. Then the Lord went towards him, and spoke some word to him, but the hobbits could not hear what he said. And the man seemed to them then sorrowful, and he cast now his gaze ever downward, and he fiddled with his hands as though he were anxious of some great thing to befall. But at last, gathering his courage as it seemed, he turned to them, and they knew him. His hair was dark, and very keen were his grey eyes, and filled with the memory of many sorrows, but the words he spoke seemed to stumble one upon the other, and his gaze was ever downward.

‘Long have I awaited this meeting, in hope and dismay,’ he said, ‘yet now it seems my courage has deserted me. For I have much to answer for, especially to you, Ring-bearer, and much for which I would ask pardon and forgiveness, if I might.’ And having said this at last he looked up, and his glance fell upon Frodo, and it seemed that he wept.

But Frodo seemed to awake as from a spell, and he laughed with joy, and with a glad cry ran and flung his arms about the man. Then, laughing still, he said, ‘Boromir! How I have missed you! And as for whatever you might ask pardon for, it was long ago forgiven. And did we not fall prey to the same evil, and was it not the same hand that rescued us, though we knew it not?’

Then Boromir too laughed, and all his cares fell at last from him. ‘You speak truly, Frodo,’ he said. Then looking to the Lord he spoke again, saying: ‘Yours was the hand, Lord, and you have granted this joyous meeting.’

But the Lord smiled on them, and he said only, ‘All is well, and all is well, and all manner of things are well.’*

~*~*~

And when Sam also had greeted Boromir, and old hurts were laid to rest between them, then those four went on in a glad company. The Lord took each hobbit by the hand, and Boromir took Frodo’s wounded hand in his with gentle reverence, and so they passed with glad singing and much laughing on into the wide lands about them. For in that country song and laughter seemed to come easier than speech, and they found that they could read one another’s hearts.

So they passed in such fashion over many fair meads full of flowers of all kinds, to which not even Sam knew all the names, and over many dancing streams gleaming silver as they gurgled over the stones, and again over wooded hills and dells where grew all manner of trees, some tall and stately, and others small and humble, but all very fair, and each lifting its canopy of bright leaves to the sky. Frodo thought that all the trees and the many flowers of the field seemed to be singing, a song at once ancient and new, and very lovely. Then he lifted his own voice, in tune with that bright song, and soon Sam and Boromir had joined him. But at length they ceased, and Frodo turned to the Lord and asked, ‘Lord, will you not sing?’

‘Nay,’ said he, ‘for that time has not yet come. But I delight now to hear the joyful songs of my children.’ And he smiled on them.

Then as they passed over a high green hill strewn with small flowers of white and blue and gold they beheld spread out before them a great valley, more fair than any tongue can tell. And a great array of folk were there, and at their head, laughing in the light, were Rose and Bilbo and Merry and Pippin. Behind these were many others whom Frodo and Sam had long missed, parents and friends and relations various and sundry, and laughing the hobbits ran down the broad grassy slope and threw themselves upon them. Then there was a great confusion of voices as everyone spoke at once, but they found that they heard and understood each as though they had spoken in turn. And the Lord was with them and among them, and paying no heed to his great majesty he danced with them upon the sward.

And here this tale must end, for what joys and glories beyond the skill even of the Elven tongue to tell lie in that fair land beyond the circles of the world, no mortal knows of a surety, nor any of the Eldar.

~*~*~*~

*The words which Christ spoke to Julian of Norwich in one of her visions, to which Tolkien refers in one of his letters