Looking in the Rearview Mirror

'Tis not the safest way to move forward
To be looking back at where you've been.
But it can be difficult to know one's whereabouts
Without the knowledge of the path that lead to here.

Trapped in nostalgia, trying to rekindle past ashes,
May yield little energy to power today's craft.
Locked in a view of old familiar memories
Blinds one for oncoming hazard and opportunity.

And yet I do linger on what has already passed
With only faint anticipation for the future yet.
Less than expectation, the feeling is pessimistic;
The pleasant has been balanced by the less desirable to be.

In youth the road ahead is long and unexplored
And with unsatisfied boldness we rush to meet it.
But in the ebbtide, many happy discoveries are behind,
Perhaps gone beyond reach, but not from hindsight.

Does a discontent man drive to reinvent and restart
While the happily complacent merely rehashes and reuses?
Is it gluttony to desire more virgin grounds to despoil
Or to overharvest the same trodden acres to ruin?