Then
shall these things, which to thee seem follies, and to the men between
thee and me mere wisdom and the bond of stability, seem follies once
again; yet, whereas men have so long lived by them, they shall cling
to them yet from blindness and from fear; and those that see, and that
have thus much conquered fear that they are furthering the real time
that cometh and not the dream that faileth, these men shall the blind
and the fearful mock and missay, and torment and murder: and great and
grievous shall be the strife in those days, and many the failures of
the wise, and too oft sore shall be the despair of the valiant; and
back-sliding, and doubt, and contest between friends and fellows
lacking time in the hubbub to understand each other, shall grieve many
hearts and hinder the Host of the Fellowship: yet shall all bring
about the end, till thy deeming of folly and ours shall be one, and
thy hope and our hope; and then--the Day will have come."
Once more I heard the voice of John Ball: "Now, brother, I say
farewell; for now verily hath the Day of the Earth come, and thou and
I are lonely of each other again; thou hast been a dream to me as I to
thee, and sorry and glad have we made each other, as tales of old time
and the longing of times to come shall ever make men to be.
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