We Never Do Know

by John Herlihy

We never do know what the future might bring,

We only come to know when the future arrives.

To know the future would hearts flutter or sing,

Knowledge that betokens if we are dead or alive.

Then the perennial question of wheres and whens,

Lost chances, unlikely prospects, the never agains.

We never know what may over the horizon arise,

Heaven-sent blessing that may fall from the skies.

They say that it is not the person that seeks luck,

Rather a lucky chance that seeks out the person.

Let your fishing hook fall quietly into the stream,

When you least expect it, a hooked fish will gleam.

Let the future bring with it, come whatever may,

The world but a bauble and we humans are at play.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Wednesday 24 December 2025