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Poetry

Farewell To Nietzsche

by Peter Abbs

In spite of his work, the philosopher was given a Christian funeral in the village where he was born.

This is Röcken, where for no God’s sake
wild roses bloom.

You return from where you came:
not dust to dust,
but fire to fire.

There will be no more striding the Alps,
no more aphorisms,
no further übermensch notes.

All those Lutheran hymns –
rising blasphemies.

And now over our heads the skylark’s requiem,
while through the clouds
the sun lights up, once more,
our only home.

On the horizon a flock of geese.

Peter Abbs is Research Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Sussex. Recent books include TheFlowering of Flint: New and Selected Poems (Salt) and Against the Flow: Education, the Arts and Postmodern Culture (Routledge). Please visit www.peterabbs.co.uk.