Burnt Norton

Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,

Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.

Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind

Cannot bear very much reality.

Time past and time future

What might have been and what has been

Point to one end, which is always present.

-- Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888 - 1965), American-born English poet, dramatist, and literary critic, The Four Quartets, Burnt Norton (I), Collected Poems 1909–1935 (1936)