Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Turned and tossed in this widening flight
And I can’t find my bearings
The voice that called me once is lost
And the silence left is tearing at me
Everything’s starting to fall apart
The center cannot hold
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed upon us
And innocence is drowning
All around the best of men are lacking in conviction
While the wicked and the worst are full of passion and intent
All we have is falling apart
The center cannot hold
The blood-dimmed tide has covered us
And the innocent are drowning
Surely there’s some revelation coming close at hand — a second coming
I can barely mouth the words before the images assault me
Somewhere in the desert, a monstrous affront turns its pitiless gaze to me
Its blinding stare is like the sun
I turn my eyes and fight to shake it but it’s frozen in my mind
The darkness drops again, but now I know
Twenty centuries of sleep have been shaken to a nightmare
What rough beast, its hour come ‘round at last
Slouches towards Bethlehem, waiting to be born?
All we have has fallen apart
The center could not hold
The blood-dimmed tide was loosed
And the innocent have drowned