There, peeping among the cloud-wrack

above a dark tower high up in the mountains,

Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while.

The beauty of it smote his heart,

as he looked up out of the forsaken land,

and hope returned to him.

For like a shaft, clear and cold,

the thought pierced him that in the end

the Shadow was only

a small and passing thing:

there was light and high beauty

for ever beyond its reach.

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