The next day is never so good as the day before.

The next day is never so good as the day before.

I cannot sing the old songs, Or dream those dreams again,

I cannot sing the old songs, Or dream those dreams again,

Not heaven itself upon the past has power;
But what has been, has been, and I have had my read more

Not heaven itself upon the past has power;
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes.

I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes.

To look back to antiquity is one thing, to go back to it is another.

To look back to antiquity is one thing, to go back to it is another.

O God! Put back Thy universe and give me yesterday.

O God! Put back Thy universe and give me yesterday.

The Present is the living sum-total of the whole Past.

The Present is the living sum-total of the whole Past.

Some are so very studious of learning what was done by the ancients that they know not how to live read more

Some are so very studious of learning what was done by the ancients that they know not how to live with the moderns.

Listen to the Water-Mill:
Through the live-long day
How the clicking of its wheel
read more

Listen to the Water-Mill:
Through the live-long day
How the clicking of its wheel
Wears the hours away!
Languidly the Autumn wind
Stirs the forest leaves,
From the field the reapers sing
Binding up their sheaves:
And a proverb haunts my mind
As a spell is cast,
"The mill cannot grind
With the water that is past."