By HUGH CHISHOLM.
Some have long memories for past delights;
Some love to dwell upon the days to come;
They have a wider scope than other some,
Whose souls are chained to present days and nights;
Whose backward gaze if memory invites,
The sense of self-continuance is numb;
The moment felt is clear, the past a hum
Of hateful ghosts: ourselves: the past affrights!
To see life “steadily” and see it “whole”!—
They long to comprehend, but know not how.
Change is the human law, the mortal goal;
Use wisely then this hour, since man must bow;
But vainly fix succession for a soul,
That knows Itself but here and now.
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This sonnet is a previously unpublished poem by Hugh Chisholm (1866-1924), former editor of the St. James’s Gazette and editor-in-chief of the Encyclopædia Britannica (10th, 11th and 12th editions). First published in 2010 on his birthday, February 22.
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