I Wonder.

I wonder if the quiet and distant ways, Of other days.
Led to that calm contented mind, We all would find;
Or if the longing eyes of men were cast Into the past
In search of that elusive thing, Content would bring.
I wonder if the folk that lived and died And laughed and cried,
And toiled and sorrowed in those distant days,
Thought on our ways;
And wondered if the future years would hold
Some glint of gold,
Some dream of earthly heaven surely blest,
Where men might rest.
I wonder if, when our time too has sped.
And we are dead;
Will those unnumbered people yet unborn.
For our day mourn,
With longing thoughts and glances backward cast,
Into the past;
Or seek the answer on the distant dim,
Eternal rim.

—Win. J. A. McKellow.