“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.”from The Second Coming (1919), by William Butler Yeats.
A personal crisis, a nervous breakdown?
Inspiration for a ground-breaking literary masterpiece?
A view of early 20th century European politics that seems to bear ominous relevance to present day Tanzania?
Proof that poets can describe the second law of thermodynamics?
Or all of the above?
