The Centre Cannot Hold
A poem inspired by the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, b. 1865 - d. 1939
Left of right and right of left,
in the middle, there’s no rest.
Gauging newscasts spew despair.
Flounders flopping, hyping air.
•
The centre cannot hold,
into this darkest night.
Bombs strike the ground,
the trumpets sound.
Children sacrificed,
to claim their rites.
•
Evil to evil, grand upheavals,
spell doom for one and all.
Humanity is craven,
with apathetic gall.
•
Left of right, right of left,
in the middle there’s no rest.
Form up,
stand up,
be bold.
The centre cannot hold.
***
Authors Note - In this dark hour of the world, I was inspired by this poem by W.B. Yeats. Written in 1919 at the end of WWI while his wife fought off the Spanish flu.
The Second Coming
W.B. Yeats, 1919
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre 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.
•
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
***
About the Creator
J. S. Wade
Since reading Tolkien in Middle school, I have been fascinated with creating, reading, and hearing art through story’s and music. I am a perpetual student of writing and life.
J. S. Wade owns all work contained here.
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Comments (11)
Scott this was intense and breath taking!! I'm kind of at a loss of words for how to tell you how it makes me feel (in a good way). I also appreciate that you added the poem that inspired you to the bottom, so that we can see where you drew this from!
Oh, I missed this, this is hard to read. But only because the reality is so hard.
We destroy the present to claim the future. But what kind of future do we claim?
Your poem tugged at my heartstrings and made me so emotional! Also, I have a question. At first I thought is was a typo in your subtitle but you had that same spelling twice more after that. I was just wondering, wasn't his name William Butler Yeats instead of Keats? I'm really sorry if I'm wrong 🥺
Dear Scott ~ Who me at a loss for words ~ In my Biz I had thought I'd seen/heard everything. But, it's so unimaginable to me how society is so intentionally cruel; with no remorse or humanity. In my lingo it's called a total 'Shonda' Thank you JS, for your kind Shout-Out on my behalf, re; 'Raise your Voice' - It meant so much coming from someone as relevant as you JB Jay Kantor, Chatsworth, California 'Senior' Vocal Author - Vocal Village Community -
Awesome social commentary poem!!! You nailed it!!!💕❤️❤️
Sometimes, it's really hard to know what to say. You did that, beautifully. Thank you.
Breathtaking Scott, so powerful
❤❤
Those last few lines of Keats certainly suggest new meaning in this time. Thank you for sharing both powerful poems.
Thank you for helping us find the words