I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen, of meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been ; Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were, with morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair. I sit beside the fire and think of how the world will be when winter comes without a spring that I shall ever see. For still are so many things that I have never seen : in every wood in every spring there is a different green. I sit beside the fire and think of people long ago, and people who will see a world that I shall never know. But all the while I sit and think of times there were before, I listen for returning feet and voices at the door.
Lord of the Ring, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter 3 - The Ring Goes South