The Past Poem by Cyprian Kamil Norwid

The past , death and pain are not acts of God,
But of law-breaking man,
Who therefore lives in dread
And sensing evil, wants oblivion !

But is he not like a child in a dray
Crying, 'Oh, look, the oak's
Disappearing in the wood…',
While the oak's still and the child's borne away ?

The past is now - though somewhat far :
Behind the dray a village barn,
And not something somewhere
Never seen by man!…