Past And Future

Past is the past! But no, it is not past, In us, in us, it quickens, wants, aspires; And on our hearts the unknown dead have cast The hunger and the thirst of their desires. Unknown the pangs, the peace we too prepare! What shakes this bosom shall reverberate Through ages unconceived: in that deep lair The unguessed, unhoped, undreaded issues wait. Our pregnant acts are all unprophesied. We dream sublime conclusions; destine, plan, Build and unbuild; yet turn no jot aside The something infinite that moves in Man. We write The End where fate has scarce begun; And no man knows the thing that he has done.