A Small and Passing thing

I found this yesterday on Andrew Peterson's latest cd: 

"There peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor 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 forever beyond it's reach."  - J.R.R.Tolkien, Lord of the Rings