All Future and No Past

by Steve Wynn

Spring is here, and the time is right
For unrealistic goals
Last summer some hit the bottom rung
But the new year brings high hopes

The Padres may be surprising
A Red Machine could rise again
If the Pirates are pulverizing
I want to write that storybook end

Before a game is played
Before an out is made
Before the first crack of the bat
That's when it's all future and no past

The slinging A's will be overachieving
KC could be a royal pain
The O's recent woes so deceiving
The Tribe could end up drenched in champagne

Every April brings a new slate
So under the circumstance
Let's remember the Rays of 2008
At this point everybody has a chance

Opening day
It's all future and no past

Ash Wednesday (Pt. VI)

[Pt. V here]
by T.S. Eliot

Although I do not hope to turn again
Although I do not hope
Although I do not hope to turn

Wavering between the profit and the loss
In this brief transit where the dreams cross
The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying
(Bless me father) though I do not wish to wish these things
From the wide window towards the granite shore
The white sails still fly seaward, seaward flying
Unbroken wings

And the lost heart stiffens and rejoices
In the lost lilac and the lost sea voices
And the weak spirit quickens to rebel
For the bent golden-rod and the lost sea smell
Quickens to recover
The cry of quail and the whirling plover
And the blind eye creates
The empty forms between the ivory gates
And smell renews the salt savour of the sandy earth

This is the time of tension between dying and birth
The place of solitude where three dreams cross
Between blue rocks
But when the voices shaken from the yew-tree drift away
Let the other yew be shaken and reply.

Blessed sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit of the garden,
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated

And let my cry come unto Thee.