“Two paths hath life, and well the theme
May mournful thoughts inspire;
For ah, the past is but a dream,
The future a desire.”
From the Arabic

The identity of this citation is not known. The themes are common ones found throughout human cultures, though.

The "two paths" theme suffuses much religious writing, the paths representing the "good" way (following the dictates of a religion) and the "bad" way (ignoring religious dictates, failing to follow the will of god, etc.).

A typical example from Islam says calls them the "path of rigtheous truth" and the "fake path of falsehood," one being the way of Allah and the other the way of the devil. "Quran says that those who follow their thoughts and desires practically abandon the path of salat. Therefore, salat means following the divine law." (Quotes compiled from various Islamic web sites.)

The "two paths" theme is also prominent in Victorian moral literature, shown most straightforwardly in drawings, meant to admonish young people, showing (for example) the downward course of the man or woman who drinks vs. the happy upward course in life of the teetotaler.

McCullough may have chosen this particular snippet of poem simply as an oblique reference to his main character's "derailment" from a 19th-century life path to a 21st century one, and also because it talks about the past and the future.

The idea that neither the past nor the future exists is common sense, yet a difficult one for many people to fully grasp, given regrets over the past and worry about the future. Mystics and modern self-help gurus alike are fond of harping on the unreality of anythng in time except the present moment.

McCullough's chosen poem echoes, in part, the famous "Salutation of the Dawn" by the Indian poet and dramatist, Kalidasa, who flourished in the early 5th century A.D.

Salutation of the Dawn

 

Look to this day!

For it is life, the very life of life.

In its brief course

Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:

The bliss of growth

The glory of action

The splendor of beauty,

For yesterday is but a dream

And tomorrow is only a vision,

But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness

And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day!

Such is the salutation of the dawn.

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