I look into the past
seeing the wars and battles
of my fore-fathers
and my fore-mothers
and think

with every step
into the future we take
the less we want to
take a step back into
the past

then I look into the future
seeing the wars and battles
of my children
and my children’s children
and think

with every step
away from the past we take
the less we would want to
take a step into the future

then I look at this moment
sitting here, frozen in time,
half-finished poem fresh
on the screen and think

today is no different from tomorrow
and tomorrow is no different from
yesterday

frozen in time
I pray for the future
pray that the mistakes
of the past provide
no hindrance and
that the mistakes
in the future do
not hurt those
still to come
along