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
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
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
Vote! | Copy!
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
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
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
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The parachute
I get a brown parachute
and make sure that it’s folded right,
strap it to my back
and feel that it fits well.
You must make certain
that a parachute
can carry weight,
if it’s a parachute
I accompany a troop of soldiers
into a aeroplane
that takes of roaring from the runway
and we fly higher and higher
until the light first flashes red
and then green
and the aircrafts engines stop
while my heart beats in my throat
I get my turn
to stand at the open door
and see how the landscape
flashes past like a picture
beneath me.
Then I break through the wind
and count wordless
before my hand finds the pull string
and I fly on wings of silk
that folds open and draws me up.
The world lies small beneath me
and the wind swishes gale strong
and in my thoughts I fly up into the sky
past other parachutes
and the aircraft
while the clouds fold around me
and I go through the stratosphere
Later it gets chillier
and I can hardly breath
and I must be near
the mesosphere
In the vacuum around me
the earth lies
like a blue-white ball
at my feet
and I am past the thermosphere
and around me I see the universe
with stars and planets without number.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
We Can Only Live In The Here And Now
We cannot live in the future the future of us is ahead
And the past has gone forever though memories of it are not dead
We can only live in the here and now though the clock keeps ticking on
And the future we don't know about and the past forever gone
Some say we receive from life from life what is our due
Though many fall victim of bad circumstance so happens to be true
And though some will also tell you hard times are not meant to last
Those who do not have a future are those who have had a tragic past
The rags to riches stories to say the least are rare
Though lady luck can make of you an instant millionaire
Though of one who has won first division lotto I for one am not aware
For such extremely lucky people to say the least are rare
The future is ahead of us and the past forever gone
And we can only live in the here and now though time is ticking on.
]
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
ODE TO A PiCtUrE
ODE To A PiCtUrE
Flash-
A Picture
One dimensional in size
Captures an
Image
A moment
in
Time-
A Picture
Works a
Miracle
And makes
Time-
Stand still-
Time-
Moves
As quickly as the
Wind
Is blocked
And made
Frozen
Constant
And
Still-
For One to
Admire a moment,
An Image which
Appears in Different
Shades of
Light…
A Picture
Brings back an
Emotion which
Pumps right through
The Heart-
A sensitive
Delicacy –
Often uncontrolled
And driven on its own
Can be ruled
And triggered
By a Flash-
A speck
Of
Light
With shattering
Colors-
Red,
Blue
And
Green…
A Picture
Not to be measured
In Space but more so
In Time
As it
Sits
Still-
Captured
In
An
Instant
Each
Image
Is
Traced
And
Held
Together
With
Shinny
Little
Sentiments…
Composed
As
Each
Expression
Is made
Visible
At the Palm
Of
One’s
Hand
Held-
Constant
Age less
Memories
Flow
Through
And
Begin to
Sing-
Of
What
Was-
Flash-
A Picture-
Whether it be
Darkness
Or
Lightness
Detections of different states of mind are seen
Emotional sensation in every bodily part
Tell truths of what has been-
A picture
Is cherished
And
Passed down the line-
To take part in the Memories
Once
Lived-
poem by Yvette Nario
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Evil Time Place Person Past Era Convict
this is the great age instant
the time is now now now now
personal satisfaction instant
is believed perceived relieved
in instant access on line now
games games games trends
now now now twitter facebook
escape from past never look
back into demons of time past
in the past I don't
believe in the past
mottoes transcend
raw responsibilities
memories ignored
demons not executed
binding by oath don’t
review pain raw past
deaths not appeased
exorcism exorcismus must
religious practice demons evict
war crimes time place haunt
spiritual entities ghosts haunt
a person a place evil site haunt
dark spirit demon possessed
spiritual beliefs each exorcist
expel past horror appease past
take crime to court appease past
causing entity to swear oath now
perform an elaborate ritual convict
simply judge command sentence now
crime depart in justice time court now
in name of present higher power convict
exorcism practice is time psyche ancient
cultures religions belief system exorcist
feelings gone suppressed bite hurt haunt
nothing to do with me any more now evict
poem by Terence George Craddock
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
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
Vote! | Copy!
He who has loved and who betrays love does harm not only to the image of the past, but to the past itself.
quote by Theodor Adorno
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The past is not simply the past, but a prism through which the subject filters his own changing self-image.
quote by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The past is the ghost.
One fears the past the most
And the future the least.
The image he got looms
Rather than the one perceived.
With the past long and strong,
One’s fear is deep and wild.
11.07.2006
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Live In The Past
For those who are destined to live in the past
Each 'What could have been? ' is amassed
To a degree where no other timeframe can last.
'If onlys' overshadow the present so that today
Is doubted, then cursed; finally withering away.
The resulting void means they'll never have a chance
To even hope for a future to unfold and advance.
Not an instant or an inch of the past can be changed.
This is why it's sad for lives the past has rearranged.
For these tragic lives it actually can be said
That with no present or future they're virtually dead.
poem by Gregory Huyette
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Tomorrow People
Tomorrow people, where is your past?
Tomorrow people, how long will you last?
Tomorrow people, where is your past?
Tomorrow people, how long will you last?
Today you say you deyah
Tomorrow you say you're gone
But you're gone so long
If there is no love in your heart - so sorry
Then there is no hope for you - true, true
Tomorrow people, where is your past?
Tomorrow people, how long will you last?
Tomorrow people, where is your past?
Tomorrow people, how long will you last?
So you're in the air
But you still don't have a thing to spare
You're flying high
While we're on the low o-o-oh
Tomorrow people, where is your past?
Tomorrow people, how long will you last? Tell me now
Tomorrow people, where is your past? No where
Tomorrow people, how long will you last? Ten years!
Stop tellin' me the same story
Today you say you deyah
Tomorrow you say you're gone and you're not coming back
If there is no love in your heart oh now
There will never be hope for you
Tomorrow people, where is your past?
Tomorrow people, how long will you last? Ten years!
Tomorrow people, where is your past?
Tomorrow people, tomorrow people, come on
Tomorrow people, tomorrow people, come on
Tomorrow people, tomorrow people, no soon come
Tomorrow people, tomorrow people, soon come
Tomorrow people, tomorrow people, today is here
If you don't know your past, you don't know your future
Everyone
Don't know your past, don't know your future everyman
Don't know your past, don't know your future, come on
Don't know your past, don't know your future
How many nations
How many people did that one catch
How many
song performed by by Ziggy Marley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
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
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Throwing The Blackness And Whiteness Of My Past ...
this is the picture
of you
a past black
and white
glossy
image of
how lovely
a woman can
be
and so
beautiful still
you are not
mine and
i am not
yours
fate
says so
what can
we do?
i am so sorry
i cannot be
bound by this
blackness
& whiteness
of history
that
may destroy
the rainbows
of my future
one rainy day
is enough for me
i have promised
myself about
the sunny days that come
and i must
make the most
of my short life
under the
sun
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
There’s a dragon fly
hanging at the mirror image of the window
catching the eye of a shrike
and the bird flashes past with stretched out claws
and for a moment the insect vibrates scared
and are swept away
by the bird that later twitters on the barbed wire
where it pierces the insect with a nail
and I am caught in the scene
and see the spreading its black wings
preparing for the next victim
and every insect that it spots
it catches.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Empty Picture Frame
An empty picture frame sits upon my desk
Where once upon a time a picture in it did rest
But now the frame stands lifeless and bare
Now it reminds me of a love that once was there.
As in the past the picture brought me happiness and joy
Gave me the reason to live and to write my story
To glance upon and dream of when no one was near
To speak the words of love when them she couldn't hear.
But when she left me I threw her picture away
But I kept that frame to remind me of that day
In remembrance of what she did in and out of my sight
As she was my candle but she blew out that light
So that picture frame I keep it in my plain view
So every time I see it I know what to say and what to do
As once upon a time her picture was in the frame
But now picture is gone but the memories still remain.
poem by Randy McClave
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
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
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Truism Sonnet
Truisms become truth, as justice become adjudication;
Knowledge becomes reality, and reality, life's education!
My heart has stopped beating since 2007, that Veteran's Day;
Ached has it since, more than I could ever say!
Our life together, so amazing, so true;
Our family, together, so beauteous and new;
Though, KMKG is what we may be proclaimed:
Kristina, Maurice, Kalina and Gabriella, who we are, in name!
What is past is prologue, or so it may be said;
What is past affects us, until are days are dead;
What is past never ceases, nor leaves us alone;
What is past ne'er halts, until we have truly grown!
Whensover my love, you allow past to leave us-
Then only my beloved, will you truly see us!
Maurice Harris,8 December 2007
poem by Maurice Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
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
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!