Turmoil Is Coming From Far Off (A Reply To William Butler Yeats) Poem by Gert Strydom

The Spiritus Mundi is hell bent
to take with force and not to earn
and blood letting is loosened everywhere:

A soapstone bird that is
coming alive troubles me
while it soars into the sky
turning around and around
forming a tornado
funnelling down to the ground
the centre grows strong
gaining power
sucking everything in
bringing devastation and mere anarchy
causing things to fall apart
ripping to pieces
shattering everything
with the dark funnel dropping again.

The country is in chaos
and destruction is close at hand
while the roots of trouble are rushing in
from all over Africa
and criminals walk the land.

Surely some divine intervention
is now close at hand
occurring just before the Second Coming
while men lack conviction
and turmoil is coming from far off,

but the beast is awake
taking in possession just what it wants
stealing, murdering and raping
and nightmare follows where it goes
leaving destruction, poverty, famine,
starvation, war and utter confusion
as if man is going back in time
to the iron age.

[References: Spiritus Mundi = The general spirit prevailing. The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats.]