Marsh Bell-adventure related poem by Tolkien himself!!!

[Oskar]

I found a poem, written by Tolkien himself. Perhaps Franscenco and the others found it and got inspired by it for the creation of the pre-written adventure (included in the core books)? Anyhow, I thought it would be fitting for a character with Scholar-calling, or with the Rhymes of Lore-trait,, or simply into Lore to increase immersion?
Maybe the character will remember it or write it him/herself during Fellowship-phase as a way for the Scholar to reduce shadow-points. (Thus, a narration of the skill-roll to lower shadow-points).

The Poem (ATP #9, J.R.R. Tolkien)

The Shadows where the Mewlips dwell
Are dark and wet as ink,
And slow and softly rings their bell,
As in the slime you sink.

You sink into the slime, who dare
To knock upon their door,
While down the grinning gargoyles stare
And noisome waters pour.

Beside the rotting river-strand
The drooping willows weep,
And gloomily the gorcrows stand
Croaking in their sleep.

Over the Merlock Mountains a long and weary way,
In a mouldy valley where the trees are grey,
By a dark pool's borders without wind or tide,
Moonless and sunless, the Mewlips hide.

The cellars where the Mewlips sit
Are deep and dank and cold
With single sickly candle lit;
And there they count their gold.

Their walls are wet, their ceilings drip;
Their feet upon the floor
Go softly with a squish-flap-flip,
As they sidle to the door.

They peep out slyly; through a crack
Their feeling fingers creep,
And when they've finished, in a sack
Your bones they take to keep.

Beyond the Merlock Mountains, a long and lonely road,
Through the spider-shadows and the marsh of Tode,
And through the wood of hanging trees and gallows-weed,
You go to find the Mewlips - and the Mewlips feed.

[MadTrapper]

My wife found this poem when she LM's the Marsh Bell for our group. She even found this audio clip of Tolkien himself reading it! So she played that at one point during the adventure Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGctGyCDGYA

[timb]

It's great when you find stuff like this, I remember when someone posted about this on the old C7 One Ring forums about the poem back in 2011 or 2012. So to answer your question, yes the creators very much knew about this poem, Francesco from his own posts and blogs had previously said how much he has read - going through the 12 part History of Middle Earth series and lots of other books to get the feel right.
I am sure there are plenty of other nods we'll find eventually, the C7 people know their stuff.

Around the time the older thread appeared (and I can't find it, so it's lost in the depths of time), prompted by the Mewlips information, I found the following video on YouTube and posted about it -

http://walkintomordor.com/the-mewlips-by-j-r-r-tolkien

[Otaku-sempai]

The title of the poem is The Mewlips. It can be found in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil which is also collected as part of The Tolkien Reader. There are other poems in the collection that would be familiar to readers of The Lord of the Rings, including The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late, The Stone Troll, and Oliphaunt.