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False to yesterday

Posted by R. Berg on July 23, 2001

In Reply to: Translation posted by Jérémie on July 23, 2001

: I have read the words 'false to yesterday' in the following context :

: 'Wait when, false to yesterday,
: Others do not wait'

: What are their meaning ?

First of all, "false to yesterday" is being used to describe "others." These three words are a highly nonliteral use of English. I'll hazard a guess that "false" in this context is an extension of its use to mean "unfaithful," as in "After four years William's lover was unfaithful to him." I'll hazard an interpretation, too.The author (poet?) is advising patience, advising us to trust that in time things will improve; others, the impatient ones, haven't learned that lesson from their experience with times in the past ("yesterday") when they were unhappy and things did eventually improve. They are being false to the past by flying in the face of their experience or of history, analogously--the author invites the reader to consider--to the way an individual who betrays his or her partner is false to that partner.

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