Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and archive mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement, against that past.
quote by George Steiner
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Don't Know Where The Past Is Gone
I don’t know where the past is gone
I only know most of my own life is over-
I don’t know where the past has gone
I only know so many people I loved
Are no longer here and will never be here again-
I don’t know where the past has gone
I only know that that chance I had that hope for so many years
Can never be mine in the same way again-
I don’t know where the past has gone
So many moments of beauty and love and opportunity missed and longing unrealized-
I don’t know where the past has gone
And what of it I should miss
And why I should long for it so.
I don’t know where the past has gone
And where my life was lost and why I did not do better in it-
I don’t know where the past has gone
And what will be when for me
Everything is only the Past gone
poem by Shalom Freedman
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To articulate what is past does not mean to recognize "how it really was." It means to take control of a memory, as it flashes in a moment of danger. For historical materialism it is a question of holding fast to a picture of the past, just as if it had unexpectedly thrust itself, in a moment of danger, on the historical subject. The danger threatens the stock of tradition as much as its recipients. For both it is one and the same: handing itself over as the tool of the ruling classes. In every epoch, the attempt must be made to deliver tradition anew from the conformism which is on the point of overwhelming it. For the Messiah arrives not merely as the Redeemer; he also arrives as the vanquisher of the Anti-christ. The only writer of history with the gift of setting alight the sparks of hope in the past, is the one who is convinced of this: that not even the dead will be safe from the enemy, if he is victorious. And this enemy has not ceased to be victorious.
quote by Walter Benjamin
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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It Does Not Have To Be This Way
Every culture tries to control, manipulate, shame, dominate the other culture, the dominate cultures today where the so called inferior cultures of the past, the so called inferiors to day where the dominate cultures of the past in many or most cases, in their region or in their portion of their continent. This is what individuals do to one another. This is how we are habituated on many levels, but it does not have to be this way. Believe in your self, face this tendency of humanity that we need to grow out of, defend your self from this, rise without putting others down. Weed out dysfunctional patterns of relating, of being that you picked up from your family.
poem by Michael Kavuoti
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Borrowed
borrowed shirts, borrowed shoes,
borrowed books, borrowed thoughts,
borrowed bed, borrowed lover,
borrowed dreams, borrowed salt.
borrowed children, borrowed mothers,
borrowed study, borrowed lives.
borrowed God, borrowed heaven,
borrowed killers with borrowed knives.
borrowed flags, borrowed lies,
borrowed virtue, borrowed freedom.
borrowed bombs, borrowed bullets,
borrowed puppets, borrowed kingdoms.
borrowed soup bowls, borrowed numbers,
borrowed tents, borrowed bridge.
borrowed hope, borrowed survival,
borrowed till it's sacrilige!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Past
Past is past.
It never comes.
It helps us something to learn.
Past lives may hurt us.
But It never ruins us.
Don't fight the past.
Let it go, always be simple, always be inspired.
There is no point going with the past.
There is the point going with present.
Past determines nothing.
Present determines something.
poem by Yash Pradhan
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We all need a past - that's where our sense of identity comes from.
quote by Penelope Lively
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Breath by Breath
Our moments are precious and
Our time is now.
Use it wisely and use it well!
There is no connecting the past
And future. The presence is the
in-between and only lasts but
Less than a breath.
The presence is so fast,
a blink of an eye and it is the past!
Then are we really living our future with
each inhale and our past goes out
with each exhale?
Are is it really just a pretence of presence?
Future - Past,
Future - Past,
Future - Past!
poem by JDarrell Kirkley
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My Past
I can never let go of my past because my past has marked me
Every time I look down
Every time I look over
There is my past
The notches
The bold the non-mistakable scars
…the scars
My past
Each and every one has a story
Each and every one has a memory
Each and every one has brought tears to my eyes
For no story nor memory are of happiness, triumph, or glory
No, they are of fear, anxiety, self-hatred, paranoia, and loneliness
I can never let go of my past because my past will always be part of me
poem by Scarlet Mo Chroi
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The true picture of the past flits by. The past can be seized only as an image which flashes up at the instant when it can be recognized and is never seen again.
quote by Walter Benjamin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Gone
Everything of the past is a memory gone
Remembering my past will only be a sign of weakness
Now life is so cruel, that the past has left no meaning
I am very alone and that is how I have to live my future life.
Anything which reminds me of my past, is to be stayed away from
That is the best and the only way to survive.
If I said I still do love you
Then it would be a big lie now
Since, now the love which I had for you has actually turned into hate
Earlier I loved you a lot and very truly
Now I do not love you
As a matter of fact, the hate is so much that the pain of the past is like a volcano
Which will just blast, if I ever again came close to you
Stay away my past, you are my memory, which is gone.
poem by Rohit Sapra
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A Dark Past
My past is dark
It's full of pain and tears
My past is my story
My past made me stronger
People still don't know why my past is dark
But I will tell you
No more hiding for me
My past is red stained razors
I admit I did cut
But, I will no more
My closest friend was the only one that knew
Me and her alike in so many ways
We helped each other through thick and thin
My future is bright and happy
I am loved and always will be loved
In my future I will not shed a tear
For I will be surrounded by loved ones
My past is erased I have no regrets
My life is better oh..so much better
poem by Jasmine Kayleen
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Stolen Identity
This is a stolen identity
Because I’m bent on forgetting me
All left is my eyes
And I think their gonna die
Don’t look in, you can see me
I’d rather wear this stolen identity
Exactly what they want to see
I’ve got the lock on the door
Don’t force yourself to love me anymore
You don’t need to
I’m now something new
But its not really me, it’s all for you
He put the stitches on the cut
When she’s perfect, then there’s love
She’s perfect in this mask
Hiding his shame at last
Because without identity goes the past
No, I can’t look up to your eyes
I know I’ve got something else in me
It’s breathing hard, it tries rise
Like the third of a trinity
No, I’ve got this at last
Now I’ve found the perfect mask
And I’ll shake these thoughts with this flask
Because with this failure goes a past
That he never wanted to see
A part that was forced to bleed
But with this identity goes stitches
Though it bleeds, though it itches
But I’m sewn up, strung out, all you’ll ever need
Though these stitches bleed
poem by Kathryn Garner
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Sad picture piece
The picture we took together
And put together piece by piece
All of us as a Group
With smiles on our faces we
Were laughing together
Creating what we thought
Was a big happy picture
Now in the future we look
At that big picture piece
And see a sad picture piece
Comparing it to today, most of us…
Dead, war reached us.
What use to be happy picture piece.
Turned to what it really was.
A sad picture piece we put together
As a Group.
Smiling, laughing, naive
Naïve of what the future
Could bring
Friends dying, revealing what they
Really did with there life
In the past, happy as can be
Together wishing for more
Seeing that picture now
Remembering all the thing’s I had
In the past, also with things I lost
Now you see a picture with lies
But also the truth
Both makes the group shot of friends
We put together
A big, but small sad picture piece.
poem by Marcellus Watts
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The Last Dance With Past
Destroyed and alone i walk to you my past
With opened arms i run to you my past
I knock the doors of distances
There behind them painful memories lies
May can i catch the last chance
To hug the memories of the past
And make with them my last dance
For the last time to try
To arouse the misty pity
And the constancy of the past
To revive the inscrutable pain of the past
May for last time i can remove that insensible gauzy veil
That lies there like an insect between and around
the misty pity of the past
poem by Sossi Khachadourian
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It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past.
quote by George Steiner
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Constant Time
Time past and the future give way to this present picture,
But can somebody tell me how to recognize that gate that leads to the bed of roses,
We speak about the future like the past is a grain of sand on the shore,
Washed away by the ocean tide,
Giving way to new grains to make a portrait of the present,
These past memories stay deep in our heart like the depths of the ocean,
Though it gets washed back to shore ones in a blue moon,
Reminding us that our past is a standard measurement of our strength,
Time moves so fast making the past to fade away,
this makes us seem so secured about the present,
Forgetting the fact that our present becomes our past that was once a present from nature as a new day,
Some take the future to be a dream and a wish,
But I take my future to be what I see when I stand from the bottom of the mountain to look at the top,
And my past to be the depth of the ocean that can always be washed ashore …
The only thing I can control is my present,
Yes cos my mind controls my hands to give you a flash of what goes on in my head
Like this words i write to you was once my future and will become my past, making my future my past and my past my future..So ironical isn’t it?
Standing here I sure know 1 thing,
I will reach the top by that foot path,
Yes of course it’s not to mean that I wouldn’t fall,
But I have to break myself off my present past and walk with grace to stand where I belong,
There where I am the king of my destiny,
The past is just going to be a page of memories,
And my future will become my present making time constant in my head,
Because I stand on my past which was once my present and my present which was once my future, making time equal and constant
As I flip thru this page of life,
By: ade
poem by Adeniran Oluokun
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Time Long Past
Like the ghost of a dear friend dead
Is Time long past.
A tone which is now forever fled,
A hope which is now forever past,
A love so sweet it could not last,
Was Time long past.
There were sweet dreams in the night
Of Time long past:
And, was it sadness or delight,
Each day a shadow onward cast
Which made us wish it yet might last--
That Time long past.
There is regret, almost remorse,
For Time long past.
'Tis like a child's belovèd corse
A father watches, till at last
Beauty is like remembrance, cast
From Time long past.
poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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Thinking of the Past
If you could go back into the past
what would you do differently?
knowing it wouldn't last.
You would have to take, the good with the bad,
you couldn't just re-live the good,
of the things you have lived, also the sad.
Thinking of the past brings depression,
you think of it to often,
it'll only bring you obession.
The past wasn't all good,
today, will be the past tommorw
are things good now? Have you understood?
Think about the past
but understand this.
it does not last.
Make the best for today,
then in the future,
you will enjoy that day.
The Past Follows
You try hard not to show it
I sense what is going on
You hide behind your smile
Something has gone wrong
The Past Follows
Your heart is somewhere
There's nothing I can do
It's far beyond any words
Yes It's so deep within you
The Past Follows
poem by Suelynn Walters
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In That Moment: A Meditation
one comes to the water, to the ocean, and one observes…without a companion, without chatter and with bodily stillness, and with no projection of one’s one expectations and conditioning, one observes…one sees what is before one…and in that moment, in that instant, there is no one there with an identity; no one coming from the past to say: this is what I am; this is what I did – and this was done to me; and such a person did this; and in that moment, in that observing, in that seeing of the ocean, of the water, in the seeing of what is before one, there is none that asserts its identity; there is none to speak of its name and its nationality and its pride and associations and its past, and there is none to reach out for a future: there is the moment; the stillness; the silence…
poem by Raj Arumugam
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