I first read the poem The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats over forty years back and it left a mark. Cut and scarred me. Its first verse still resonates in my mind, especially that last line– the best lack all conviction, while the worst/ Are full of passionate intensity. It just reeks of the current political bog in which we are mired.
After putting the final touches on the piece above, a 12″ by 36″ canvas, I began examining the painting, trying to discern what it held for me. Immediately, the image from Yeats’ poem came to mind of a world in disarray, spinning out of control in dark chaotic clouds and rising tide that overtakes and drowns all hopes.
But instead of Yeats’ forewarning that the center ( or centre, as is in his Irish version) cannot hold, I saw the Red Tree standing strong and resolute against the troubles swirling around it. It holds tight to its core, not allowing the madness surrounding it to overtake it or alter those values of goodness that it holds dearly as definitions of its own humanity. It will die before it will succumb to becoming part of the blood-dimmed tide, as Yeats put it.
I am calling this painting The Center Holds.
I think this is a strong piece although I am not sure the photo above captures everything in it, its depth and contours. It’s coming with me to the West End Gallery for my Gallery Talk there next Saturday, August 5. Stop by and check it out for yourself.
Meanwhile, here’s Yeats’ The Second Coming:
Redtree Times 
Nice picture
But in reality in our time I don’t think the centre is holding; things are flying off the widening gyre all over the place.
By that, I mean that we are personally trying to hold true to our core beliefs and values even as the madness envelopes us. But I do agree that any communal sense center is definitely at great risk at this point of not holding.
Interesting. I think the title fits the painting very well, indeed. The poem certainly has wide appeal. Chinua Achebe used “Things Fall Apart” as the title for his great novel.