The past is past

The past is past,
and although it remains
as fogs that cloud the day
unwilling to depart and lift
as memories that can’t leave you in peace,
we have to go ahead into the unknown future
facing its uncertainty and difficulties
with its changes for the good or worse,
and never stop to get bogged down
in all that ‘what it could have been like’.
History is history and hopelessly
but safely at a distance,
while the present is completely different
and must needs be handled now,
although the realism that it demands
might not be very nice and beautiful
but must needs be revolting
and repelling in its shocking
overwhelming presence,
like a most unwelcome guest
that keeps intruding ever and again.
What can we do but entertain him?