I've always had mixed feelings about the Yeats poem "The Second Coming". It is powerful stuff, but speaks to us from such a cynical and broken time, the aftermath of The Great War.
That's not a fair representation of the human existence. There will always be good and bad in the world; always be things happy and sad either in your current life or just over the horizon. The difference between a basic optimist such as myself and a pessimist like Yeats is what you choose to see when peering into the coming dawn. Yeats had an unhappy family life. If you can't find happiness and inspiration in your children and grandchildren then you are not reporting, but contributing to the cynical and broken aspects of the human condition.
Here's my re-write for Christmas 2022.
Slowly widens the Family band
Yet still they hear the Call of Home
Things hold together. The Centre is secure.
The Anarchy of grandchildren and dogs is loosed upon us again.
Innocence persists in a benighted world.
The Best love each other with passionate intensity.
And the Worst we can forget for one blessed day.
1 comment:
I like that poem Tim. Its exactly the way I feel. 🎄
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