Into Time

MAN GAzes into time with
BOOZY lenses fogging his judgment:
AMAZEd at the fall from gilded yesters, yet grasping
TOKENs of hope for improved morrows.

See more at Notes by Steven.

4 comments

  1. I think I originally read this as:
    Amazed at the fall from gilded jesters, yet grasping
    Tokens of hope for improved marrows.
    I was puzzling as to what the jesters had to do with it when I was alerted to the highly unusual ‘yesters.’ So, if yesters stands for yesterdays, does morrows stand for tomorrowdays?

    1. Yes. “Gilded yesters” was supposed to be an oblique way of saying “the golden days,” and the abbreviated “yesters” was to be paralleled by the abbreviated “morrows.”

      The overall idea for the poem is a reflection on Ecclesiastes:

      What has been is what will be,
      and what has been done is what will be done;
      there is nothing new under the sun.

      Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
      since it is not wise of you to ask this.

      Ecclesiastes 1:9, 7:10 CSB

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