A POEM FOR TODAY

 

                A POEM FOR TODAY

            Today is a reality. It is on your hands. If you don’t grab it, it will pass away.  It will not come back, even if you call it  with all your might and main.

            Yesterday is history.  Whether it was good or bad, fruitful or futile, successful or failure, it is gone for ever. It is nothing more than a memory of  bygone day/days. . You can’t revive it. To brood over it is to waste your  precious time on hand.

            Tomorrow is a dream. It may not be realized. Its expectations are uncertain. It is undependable.  Any prediction about it is a fancy, not a solid possibility.

            Given below is a poem titled NOW. It was written by the English poet and philanthropist Miss Adelaide Anne Procter (1825-1864 ).

            It inspires the readers to act now without thinking what happened in the past or what may be done in the future. The former is dead beyond revival and the latter is uncertain and unreliable for the execution of any expected action.

Look at the full text of the poem:

“Rise ! for the day is passing,

And you lie dreaming on;

The others have buckled their armor,

And forth to the fight are gone:

A place in the ranks awaits you,

Each man has some part to play;

The Past and Future are nothing,

In the face of the stern To-day.

 

Rise from your dreams of the Future,

Of gaining some hard-fought field;

Of storming some airy fortress,

Or bidding some giant yield;

Your Future has deeds of glory,

Of honor (God grant it may!)

But your arm will never be stronger,

Or the need so great as To-day.

 

Rise! if the Past detains you,

Her sunshine and storms forget;

No chains so unworthy to hold you

As those of a vain regret:

Sad or bright, she is lifeless ever;

Cast her phantom arms away,

Nor look back, save to learn the lesson

Of a nobler strife To-day.

 

Rise! for the day is passing;

The sound that you scarcely hear

Is the enemy marching to battle: —

Arise! for the foe is here!

Stay not to sharpen your weapons,

Or the hour will strike at last,

When from dreams of a coming battle,

You may wake to find it past!

                                                ****

G.R.Kanwal

16 May 2026