Stand on the ruins of the past, but rebuild
It is deceptive, not all is destroyed yet
Take joy from the barren fields you tilled
Even if no visible results you get
All adds up in mysterious ways
Where as a sum total in your mind it stays
Pushing you ahead, if you have tried before
If you haven’t, then inertia shuts life’s door
It is better to have tried and failed
Than without trying, at life to have bitterly railed
Thus you arrive at the present
To enjoy or curse the moment
After trying labor you may be spent
But with a will unbent
Or you may be calm but dead
With no desire to move ahead
Best is to be cheerful and gay
Enthusiastically seize life’s another day
Still look around with dazzled eyes
Always wanting to win the prize
The future beckons with fascinating allure
Wonder what for you is in store
The energy your successes have given
As equally, by failures you have been driven
All will be invested in what is yet to come
Toward it, as a veteran you will run
The future will one day become your past
To feed life’s undying fire and make it last
Madam Anonymous
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/past-present-and-future-8/
