The Ring of Power
(Special thanks to Tolkien)

One ring to rule them all
One ring to find them
One ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them

I don't recall the day I saw the ring
or where I was when it caught my eye,
it was as though it had always been there
rather plain and unassuming.

It wasn't my ring
it appeared to be just lying there
cast off by some careless hand
unmarked but not unworn.

It seemed to call to me
not out loud at first but
quietly and unassuming
with a power unknown to me.

I picked up the ring and
felt its power grow from my attention.
It appeared to me that I was the source of power
the first of many mistakes.

As its power grew I was unaware.
I had picked up the ring and it was in my hand
but not by my hand did it move,
of its own will it began to overshadow me.

It gave to me powers untold,
it took from me nothing but what I gave
at least that is how it appears
when the ring is in the hand.

Then one day I came to notice
that my ring was gone,
no longer in my hand
but where did I set it down?

Gone it was!
Lost to me!
Stolen by another!
And I felt the emptiness.

I searched for many weeks on end
to find the ring now lost.
And there it was again
much like before but more brilliant than before.

Again I found it in my hand
so much more perfect than before.
And once again I felt the power in me swell
for once again I had my precious.

This time I vowed to keep it closer
and on my finger I placed the ring.
Its fit was better than I could have imagined
and once I thrust myself in, it enveloped me.

Again I seemed to be in control
but was it me or the ring that had the control?
The ring began to loosen over time
and once again it slipped from my hand.

I had worn the ring for some time now
and its power over me had grown.
And all the time it took what I gave yet
it took so much more that I was unaware.

The ring of power is not for any to posses,
it possesses any who dare to wear it.
And none who handle it are unaffected.
Forever they are touched by its powers.

The longer I am separated from the ring
the more I see the scars that it left behind.
It devours the mind and the will,
it becomes all consuming.

Yet once it has touched your soul
you can never give up the search.
No matter how far it leads you,
you must follow and obey.

And so I find myself again on the march
in search of my precious.
I can feel its power grow again
as it rolls around in the hand of another.

I am too weak now to posses it
it will not willing place itself back in my hand.
Nor will it not return to me unless it finds itself again with out a "master",
to be slave to the ring.

But it will not stay long upon this hand
for it will not be kept.
And while it may take its time
from his finger it will slip when he tries to use his will against it.

And then again I will attempt to take control over it.
The longer I am away the more my own powers return.
In time I will again be master of the ring.
And this time by my will it will be moved.

Or will both perish at mount doom...