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“PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.”
EXTEMPORANEOUS LINES, WRITTEN TO OBLIGE A YOUNG FRIEND, WHO SUGGESTED
THE TOPIC.
The PAST, which _once_ was present, _then_ did seem,
As doth _this_ present, but “a sick man’s dream.”
_Now_, the remembrance of _that_ past appears,
Through the dim distance of receding years,
A lovely vision of fair forms:--and yet,
How different it was! Fool! to regret
What had no being! Time, that faithful tutor,
Were I but teachable, might show the FUTURE
As the PRESENT is; and yet I paint it
Teeming with joy; and my hope doth saint it,
With haloes round the fond imagination.
And so through life I pass--without a station
Whence I can see the present, a reality
To be enjoy’d--living on _ideality_.
_August 25, 1827._
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_For the Table Book._