Grey as a mouse,
Big as a house,
Nose like a snake,
I make the earth shake,
As I tramp through the grass;
Trees crack as I pass.
With horns in my mouth
I walk in the South,
Flapping big ears.
Beyond count of years
I stump round and round,
Never lie on the ground,
Not even to die.
Oliphaunt am I,
Biggest of all,
Huge, old, and tall.
If ever you'd met me,
You wouldn't forget me.
If you never do,
You won't think I'm true;
But old Oliphaunt am I.
And I never lie.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Bloemfontein, actual Sudáfrica, 1892 - Bournemouth, Dorset, 1973). Profesor de anglosajón en la Universidad de Oxford y profesor de lengua y literatura inglesa en Merton. Novelista, autor de relatos y poeta.