35
The Second Coming
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
– W. B. Yeats, 1919
Issue 35
November 13, 2016
These lines, though written after the end of WW1 and doubtless at least partly inspired by that carnage, reach out to various times and various places throughout history, and only the most dedicated optimist would insist they could not be prophetic, maybe time and time again.
Humankind is not in the long view very consistent. Varying by location, there are periods of calm then times of unrest, even violence. There are different causes and never exact repetition. Perhaps the recent election might qualify as one of those times when ”things fall apart” and “the center cannot hold,” and we can only guess at or fear what lies ahead. After all, there is no guarantee that in this life ‘tomorrow will be better’ than today. There is no guarantee that the good will prevail over the bad. There is no guarantee that well-intentioned hopes and dreams will not become nightmares.
