“But you and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save.

“I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.

“Night will be thrice night over you,
And Heaven an iron cope.
Do you have joy without a cause,
Yea, faith without a hope?”
-Book 1: The Vision of the King