Chapter VI: The old man tells Walter of himself. The Wood Beyond the World, by William Morris.

But when they had done their meat and drink the master and the shipmen went about the watering of the ship, and the others strayed off along the meadow, so that presently Walter was left alone with the carle, & fell to speech with him and said: Father, meseemeth thou shouldest have some strange tale to tell, & as yet we have asked thee of nought save meat for our bellies: now if I ask thee concerning thy life, and how thou camest hither, & abided here, wilt thou tell me aught?

The old man smiled on him and said: Son, my tale were long to tell; and mayhappen concerning much therof my memory should fail me; and withal there is grief therein, which I were loth to awaken: nevertheless if thou ask, I will answer as I may, & in any case will tell thee nought save the truth.

Said Walter: Well then, hast thou been long here? * Yea, said the carle, since I was a young man, and a salwarth knight. * Said Walter: This house, didst thou build it, and raise these garths, and plant orchard and vineyard, and gather together the neat & the sheep, or did some other do all this for thee? * Said the carle: I did none of all this; there was one here before me, and I entered into his inheritance, as though this were a lordly manor, with a fair castle thereon, and all wellstocked and plenished. * Said Walter: didst thou find thy foregoer alive here? * Yea, said the elder, yet he lived but for a little while after I came to him.

He was silent a while, and then he said: I slew him: even so would he have it, though I bade him a better lot. * Said Walter: Didst thou come hither of thine own will? * Mayhappen, said the carle; who knoweth? Now have I no will to do either this or that. It is wont that maketh me do, or refrain. * Said Walter: Tell me this; why didst thou slay the man? did he any scathe to thee? * Said the elder: When I slew him, I deemed that he was doing me all scathe: but now I know that it was not so. Thus it was; I would needs go where he had been before, and he stood in the path against me; and I overthrew him, and went on the way I would. * What came thereof? said Walter. * Evil came of it, said the carle.

Then was Walter silent a while, and the old man spake nothing; and there came a smile on his face that was both sly and somewhat sad. Walter looked on him and said: Was it from hence that thou wouldst go that road? * Yea, said the carle. * Said Walter: And now wilt thou tell me what that road was; whither it went and whereto it led, that thou must needs wend it, though thy first stride were over a dead man? * I will not tell thee, said the carle. * Then they held their peace, both of them, and thereafter got on to other talk of no import.

What God wants most of all for each one of you...

"What God wants most of all for each one of you is that you should become holy."

-Pope Benedict XVI

Cor ad cor loquitur.

Coat of Arms of Cardinal John Henry Newman

"Heart speaks to heart."

Galadriel's Lament; from the Fellowship of the Ring

Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen,

yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!

Yéni ve lintë yuldar avánier

mi oromardi lissë-miruvóreva

Andúnë pella, Vardo tellumar

nu luini yassen tintilar i eleni

ómaryo airetári-lírinen.

Sí man i yulma nin enquantuva?

An sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo

ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë

ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë

ar sindanóriello caita mornië

i falmalinnar imbë met,

ar hísië untúpa Calaciryo míri oialë.

Sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar!

Namárië! Nai hiruvalyë Valimar!

Nai elyë hiruva! Namárië!

Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind,

long years numberless as the wings of trees!

The long years have passed like swift draughts

of the sweet mead in lofty halls

beyond the West, beneath the blue vaults of Varda

wherein the stars tremble

in the voice of her song, holy and queenly.

Who now shall refill the cup for me?

For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the stars,

from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds

and all paths are drowned deep in shadow;

and out of a grey country darkness lies

on the foaming waves between us,

and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever.

Now lost, lost to those of the East is Valimar!

Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar!

Maybe even thou shalt find it! Farewell!

the Scroll of Isildur; from the Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Great Ring shall go now to be an heirloom of the North Kingdom; but records of it shall be left in Gondor, where also dwell the heirs of Elendil, lest a time come when the memory of these great matters shall grow dim.

It was hot when I first took it, hot as a glede, and my hand was scorched, so that I doubt if ever again I shall be free of the pain of it. Yet even as I write it is cooled, and it seemeth to shrink, though it loseth neither its beauty nor its shape. Already the writing upon it, which at first was as clear as red flame, fadeth and is now only barely to be read. It is fashioned in an elven-script of Eregion, for they have no letters in Mordor for such subtle work; but the language is unknown to me. I deem it to be a tongue of the Black Land, since it is foul and uncouth. What evil it saith I do not know; but I trace here a copy of it, lest it fade beyond recall. The ring misseth, maybe, the heat of Sauron's hand, which was black and yet burned like fire, and so Gil-Galad was destroyed; and maybe were the gold made hot again, the writing would be refreshed. But for my part I will risk no hurt to this thing: of all the works of Sauron the only fair. It is precious to me, though I buy it with great pain.

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them.