by Linda Ann Nickerson

Created on: August 20, 2008

THE PRESENT

Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?
From "A Dream"
By Edgar Allan Poe
1809-1849

The victory and excellence
Belong most to the present tense.
A coin, flipped heads or tails, cannot
Move destiny to stronger spot.

The rules are pure and plain, my dear.
Though lawyers talk, they cannot hear.
In fact, the opposite occurs,
As fortune settles and defers.

Then, bored, the experts face the drive,
To push and pull, but ne'er arrive.
The habit, echoes heretofore;
Pursuers profit nevermore.

The present is a joy, a gift,
And those who lose it pay short shrift.
Recalling and foretelling fail,
As life accelerates its tale.

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