As far as actions in the past are concerned, <br />if you give the matter your attention, <br />you will recall various tenses - <br />the Past Continuous, the Past Definite, <br />the Imperfect, the Perfect, and the Pluperfect, <br />which we might call the more-than-Perfect; <br />we need not concern ourselves at the moment <br />with the Past Anterior. <br /> I, at the moment, am not concerned with the past at all, <br /> for you are very much Present, and your action <br /> of brushing the hair from your cheek <br /> requires all my attention. <br />Take, for example, this sentence <br />- 'I was looking for a word, and found it <br />in a dictionary which I had.' You will notice <br />the action of looking for the word <br />extends over a period of time, and is Continuous. <br /> What I notice is the luminosity of your skin <br /> where the sunlight strikes your shoulder, for in my case <br /> the action of looking at you is Continuous. <br />The action of finding the word is complete <br />and fixed in time, <br />and requires the Past Definite. <br /> And I observe how beautifully complete you are, <br /> and I am fixed in this moment <br /> which is now and forever. <br />While the action of possessing a dictionary, <br />in this sense, has no beginning and no end, <br />leading us to the Past Imperfect. <br /> Your eyes, at which I continue to gaze, <br /> are more than Perfect, having depths in them <br /> which seem to lead towards an Indefinite Future. <br /> And the Past Anterior and the rest of them <br /> do not concern me at all, <br /> for you see me looking at you, <br /> and the corners of your eyes crinkle <br /> as you smile at me, and in my case <br /> the action of being in love with you <br /> has no beginning and no end.<br /><br />Paul Hansford<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/revision-of-tenses/
