On Going Back

We can, and must, rebuild what was.
Return to a time when it made sense. 
Pretend like this never even happened. 
Reset our "innocence" and ignorance.

We have so many ways to describe
the one thing we simply cannot do.
Go back to the way things were,
or at least the way we remember them.

It's not a technology problem that
keeps us planted in this present.
It's a telos problem: creation only
moves forwards, to its final purpose. 

In that first garden, we learned of 
one tree, a broken couple, exiles, 
and an untended garden whose 
gates are still locked and guarded. 

In the final garden on a new earth,
two trees grow on both river banks
with blossoms, healing the people,
opening gates, and welcoming exiles.  

Creation is not a moment or a loop. 
It cannot divert from what is to come
for the sake of what has already been.
It is an arrow already in silent flight. 

To try and drag the past into the present 
is at best, foolishness, at worst, vanity. 
Even Christ set his face to the east - like
flint - in the present to face his future. 

We must cease looking West, pining
for what was meant for us only then. 
This present, and our future, our telos, 
is where we must live, move, and be.