Gandalf the Wizard
A Villanelle
The creaky wagon rolled toward party business
A tall figure dressed and robed in woolen gray
Rapping on a hobbit’s door with his wooden staff
None other than a well known gray-bearded wizard
Now some in these parts may call him Mithrandir
And others may speak of him as Gandalf the wise
Saruman questioned Gandalf as being wise
When Gandalf spoke to him of the ring business
And Saruman thought to hold on to Mithrandir
Up in the soaring Isengard towers of gray
But be careful when you try to catch a wizard
And what did Saruman do with Gandalf’s staff?
At the Ford of Bruinen he raised his staff
Keeping the black riders from Frodo was wise
A guardian of Middle Earth was this wizard
Even though the task risky was his business
The skies have become all cloudy and gray
A Fellowship is formed and its guide is Mithrandir
Traveling to the Moria Mines did Mithrandir
And through its darkened halls did he light his staff
Magnificent dwarven halls now dim and gray
Not all of their party deemed their path to be wise
Gandalf’s fiery foe was his own dark business
Hearts don’t despair with the fall of our wizard
Through shadow and ash fell our dearest wizard
And when he awoke again he was still Mithrandir
He still needed to tend to Middle Earth business
And clothed in white he set out with a shiny new staff
Those who listened to his counsel deemed him wise
For no longer was Gandalf a wizard of gray.
The storm clouds gathering in the skies were now gray
As Isengard’s minions were unleashed by its wizard
Gandalf gave much counsel, which proved to be wise
For Helm’s Deep needed the counsel of Mithrandir
Upon Shadowfax Gandalf rode with his staff
And at dawn helped deliver Helm’s Deep was his business
Take heed to Gandalf the wise, a wizard now white once gray
Don’t meddle in his business, it is said of a wizard
Magnificent Mithrandir, and his ever-changing staff.
- Kaybaggins
