burnt norton

time present 

and time past

are both perhaps

present

in time future.

and time future

contained in time past.

if all time is eternally present

all time is unredeemable.

what might have been

is an abstraction

remaining a perpetual possibility 

only in a world of speculation. 

what might have been

and what has been

point to one end

which is always

present.

footfalls echo in the memory

down the passage

which we did not take

towards the door

we never opened

into the whore’s garden.

– t s eliot (بتصرف)