from the Exeter Book

Longað þonne þy læs þe him con leoþa worn,
oþþe mid hondum con hearpan gretan;
hafaþ him his gliwes giefe, þe him god sealde.

Quoted from the Exeter Book by JRRT in a letter to his son Christopher, 8 January 1944. Tolkien’s translation: “Less doth yearning trouble him who knoweth many songs, or with his hands can touch the harp: his possession is his gift of ‘glee’ (=music and/or verse) which God gave him.”