In The Present, Above Time

Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; 

in the full-blown flower there is no more; 

in the leafless root there is no less. 

Its nature is satisfied and it satisfies 

nature in all moments alike. 

There is no time to it. 

But man postpones or remembers; 

he does not live in the present, 

but with reverted eye laments the past, 

or, heedless of the riches that surround him, 

stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. 

He cannot be happy and strong until he too 

lives with the nature in the present, above time.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays