Being the thoughts and writings of one Gustaf Erikson; father, homeowner, technologist.

This category contains lyrics that have sometime meant something

Friday, 2005-01-07

The Second Coming

Turning and turning
Within the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer
Things fall apart
The center cannot hold
And a blood dimmed tide
Is loosed upon the world

Nothing is sacred
The ceremony sinks
Innocence is drowned
In anarchy
The best lack conviction
Given some time to think
And the worst are full of passion
Without mercy

— Joni Mitchell

This is Mitchell’s interpretation of the first verse of W. B. Yeat’s The Second Coming.

Her version was the first I heard, and I still have the first verse imprinted in my brain.

The closing, however, is better in the original:

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?

Posted at 04:39, in the lyrics category. Comments [0]
Submit this story to: » del.icio.us » digg » reddit. Search for it on technorati.

Submit a comment

Please enter comments as plain text only; HTML is not supported. Submitting an URL is optional.

Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.

Comments are closed for this story.