R.W. Watkins
Originally published in The Evergreen Review Issue 114 in 2007.
1
Nazi thinkers claimed his blessing, but Herr Nietzsche's life was clean.
Walter Kaufmann spied injustice—such a cause for strife was clean.
2
Nietzsche's war years saw no fighting—his flawed eyes were far too weak.
He attended wounds from gunshots; he made sure the knife was clean.
3
Dionysus met Apollo in Die Geburt der Tragödie.
—the aesthetic words were soiled, while the lure of fife was clean.
4
Europe needs its brightest thinkers—no one race builds ancient Greece.
Der Übermensch was not a Hitler; latent strength so rife was clean.
5
Friedrich's school days saw no wenching, still his life proved short and sweet
—his syphilis was his parents', being void of wife was clean.
