The Past, the Present, and Future

The Past, the Present, and Future.
I
Some wish they’d lived the “the good days of old,”
But when these “good days” were, they cannot tell;
Yet they have day-dreams once all things went well,
In some forgotten time. Though we behold
Much that is evil in the present age, 5
I deem it better than all days of yore;
But much remains to be reform’d before
We near perfection. Let us, on the stage
Of life, play well our parts, as men who soar
To higher objects than did e’er engage 10
Our fathers in the Past; and let us wage
War to the death with evils that are hoar
With long antiquity, and prove that we
Are worthy of thy blessings, Liberty!
II
Think not that I under-value what the Past 15
Has won and handed down to us, because
I would press forward until all the laws
Of Nature are obey’d. I stand aghast
When learned men, with eloquence, would fain
Persuade us to retrace our steps; would have 20
Us call the By-gone back from its cold grave;
And forfeit blessings won with toil and pain,
Through centuries of Progress, however slow.
All prejudice must die, and War will then
Cease between nations; and Commerce, when 25
She is unfetter’d where’er waters flow,
To bear the argosies, with sails unfurl’d,
Will bind in cords of love mankind around the world.


III
Men will yet learn to calmly co-operate,
So that fell Want need never more be known! 30
When Ignorance shall from the world have flown,
And Knowledge ta’en its place, then none will hate,
But love, their fellow-creatures. Idlers then,
And not the workers, will be apt to be
Alone the sufferers of penury. 35
All useful labour will be honour’d when
The world is wiser: rulers will seek to train
The mind and body of each child that’s born
In wisdom, strength, and beauty, and adorn
And victual well the workers’ homes. I fain 40
Would live to see this, and the land to be
The heritage of all humanity.

George Markham Tweddell

p. 33-35 [in Miscellaneous Sonnets]
Sonnets I and II were sent to the Masonic Review, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.,
under the title of “Past and Present,” and were inserted in the issue for
February, 1855. The third Sonnet was added after the other two had been
mailed.