PAST AND FUTURE by Sarojini Naidu


      HE new hath come and now the old retires:
      And so the past becomes a mountain-cell,
      Where lone, apart, old hermit-memories dwell
      In consecrated calm, forgotten yet
      Of the keen heart that hastens to forget
      Old longings in fulfilling new desires.
       
      And now the Soul stands in a vague, intense
      Expectancy and anguish of suspense,
      On the dim chamber-threshold . . . lo! he sees
      Like a strange, fated bride as yet unknown,
      His timid future shrinking there alone,
      Beneath her marriage-veil of mysteries.

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