The Past Asks More
By John Herlihy

The past has already existed;
The future has not yet arrived.
The past no longer exists;
The future may never arrive.
The past knows who it is,
Where it has gone, what it has done.
The future doesn’t know who it is,
Where it will go, what it will do.

The past calls for reflection,
The future calls for speculation.
The past asks more of the future,
Than the future asks of the past.
The past has already done,
Things that cannot be undone.
The future has not yet done,
Things that may never be done.

The future has the benefit of foresight,
The past has the benefit of hindsight.
The future knows what it doesn’t know,
The past doesn’t know what the future will know.
The narrative of history lies in state,
Surrounded by candles, silence accompanies it fate.
The narrative of the future lies in waiting,
Surrounded by mist, beckoning and baiting.

The future asks nothing of the past,
Except why it did what it did.
What is the lesson to be learned,
So that future mistakes may be spurned.
The past asks much more of the future,
Because the future deserves much more.
The future not yet written, not yet read,
A future not yet living, not yet bled.