The world continues to change, warp, consume, ebb, and flow around us - good and bad directions.

So if we write a universal theme...

It's easy to ignore the word "but"; however, this is a conjunction that tells you the author is about to flip everything they've been saying.

It's a tiny word with a major impact. So this is a good place to make a division in a poem. To see what was being established, and how the author now wants to change it.