| Burnt Norton (extract) T. S. ELIOT Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break; All time is unredeemable. What might have been is an abstraction Remaining a perpetual possibility Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been Point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not take Towards the door we never opened Into the rose-garden. My words echo Thus, in your mind. |