Past, present, future

Tell me,tell me, smiling child,

What the past is like to thee?

'An autumn evening soft and mild

With a wind that sighs mournfully '

Tell me, what is the present hour?

'A green and flowery spray

Where A young bird sits gathering its power

To mount and fly away '.

And what is the future, happy one?

'A sea beneath a cloudless sun ;

A mighty, glorious, dazzling sea

Stretching into infinite'.