The Near Past

“Neither the ring nor the flash mark the present; they are both ghosts of the near past.”

Something else is already

Happening. You live,

You read this sentence

In the past, while the present 

Prepares more past without you.

But the present, too, is past,

Not just the experienced

Present, but any present.

So the past prepares the past.

Here’s a hint for the taking.

Dreams teach nothing at all, but

We dream most before waking.

We learn by learning

The mistakes our learning makes.