Past Lasts

The only thing that really lasts

is all the depth of lasting pasts.

While presence lasts no longer than now

and future runs and then asks how.

*

If everything done in now and here

is only to build history's glare,

then why toil your heart to stay

and your mind to never trudge astray?

*

How much does past really mean

if it's the only thing still seen

years after its time of light,

lives after we've lost the fight?

*

Does thought lend a hand

to try to understand

present, future, past

and how they each can last?