To count their hopes in fingers’ toil
And measure worth in corporeal coil.
What wretched fools these mortals be
Ignoring promise of eternity,
Denying reason’s just reward,
Defending riches with the sword.
Averting eyes from higher light,
Existing in fear of eternal night.
How pitiful are those lacking the sense
To accept the call of divine recompense!
What joke it would be to beings of reason
If flesh and blood proves the only season,
If divinity’s call is an outrageous lie,
And heaven sits not above earthly sky.
If consciousness falls to black emptiness
And maggots claim souls as part of their mess,
If all of our reason to brightest lights shine,
In false perception of all that’s divine.
So tell me not of mere mortal coil
Denying the hopes in worm-holed soil.
I’ll fly my way on angels borne
While faithless wallow in mud, forlorn.
On this day and from my pen the answer to dead Calvin of Bri-Onnaire, whose reason clouded his soul. This answer is for the living. Calvin found his answers long ago.
—BROTHER NIKLOS SANTELLA,
ST. PRECIOUS ABBEY, PALMARIS
Del Rey Books by R. A. Salvatore
THE DEMONWARS SAGA
The Demon Awakens
The Demon Spirit
The Demon Apostle
Mortalis
Ascendance
Transcendence
Immortalis
THE CHRONICLES OF YNIS AIELLE
Echoes of the Fourth Magic
The Witch’s Daughter
Bastion of Darkness
THE CRIMSON SHADOW
The Sword of Bedwyr
Luthien’s Gamble
The Dragon King
STAR WARS
Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime
DemonWars Saga Volume 2: Mortalis - Ascendance - Transcendence - Immortalis (The DemonWars Saga) Page 243