Monday, October 20, 2003
On Nietzsche's Back -- unedited first draft
tenor struck down across Nietzsche’s back,
clinging to a stranger’s neck,
brought down beyond years
and good
and evil,
zarathustra’s truth:
a curse wrought out over time,
trampled and swatted
with his own cane
by Nazi’s,
his sister,
the colonialist,
and philosophy,
all forgetful of his love,
gifted to a friend after
a summer of instruction,
his words meaning more
than his glances,
his loneliness lost
along translations of
the dawn discarded
for notebook
scribbling about will
and power,
glorified in America,
where they mispronounce
his name, like giving
a speech while chewing
caserole, blaming
the archeologist for
treasure they
cannot open,
but taking his liberty
in their clamor
for quick
summation.
clinging to a stranger’s neck,
brought down beyond years
and good
and evil,
zarathustra’s truth:
a curse wrought out over time,
trampled and swatted
with his own cane
by Nazi’s,
his sister,
the colonialist,
and philosophy,
all forgetful of his love,
gifted to a friend after
a summer of instruction,
his words meaning more
than his glances,
his loneliness lost
along translations of
the dawn discarded
for notebook
scribbling about will
and power,
glorified in America,
where they mispronounce
his name, like giving
a speech while chewing
caserole, blaming
the archeologist for
treasure they
cannot open,
but taking his liberty
in their clamor
for quick
summation.
