Napoleon or Nietzsche (poem)
By Luke Labern
Napoleon or Nietzsche?
L comes before both.
Two great men, two conquerers—
One heir, one man, one emperor.
The power or the poetry;
The empire or the elegy?
The era or the output;
The war on men—the war on __
Am I supposed to choose
Between the leader and the writer?
The philosopher and the artist?
The only time I ever feel wasted
When I pursue what I'm "supposed" to.
No wonder the scorn; no wonder the arrows.
I was born to fly further than history:
I breathe mountain air:
No wonder it isn't fair.
Blistering command; brittle bulwark:
Should I help build a better future
Or pour fire on their foundations?
Neither yields inclusiveness—
A leader stays well ahead,
And a philosopher lies well outside—
Being in was always out
Of the question—
The question: give the answer,
Or obscure the question?
Can you endure my seriousness
And learn to love fatality?
Anti-Christ, anarchist and bastard:
Protagonist, writer and hero.
No contradiction. No paradox.
Serotonin tells the truth:
Society obscures it all.
Too harsh, too true, too cold—
No—you're too soft, too false, too supplicant.
Take it from the only one who embraces both
— The consciousness and the animal—
For he who tears muscles and smiles
Is he who bears the truth for miles
More than most: For it is not whether you speak the truth,
But whether you listen. No one
Can blame you for no discovering truth—
But I will destroy you who do not listen.
Scorn only the stupid: they have been gifted
The genius of mankind, and still interrupt.
"Whereof one cannot speak, one must be silent"—
Why, then, do you raise your voice?
So many lives would be better lived as instrumentals.
But I am also to blame: if you, too,
Speak the truth and feel it press upon your skin...
Do not hold your breath—we need you.
All of us who wish for something better—
The few of us, we diamond beads strung sparsely
Along the string of time—we do not often meet
Except in spirit, quite asynchronously—
But we love you and your intellect,
Your strength, your power and your passion.
And so I ask again: Nietzsche or Napoleon?
Neither, because not or:
Try and—try both—try more.
L comes before both.
Two great men, two conquerers—
One heir, one man, one emperor.
The power or the poetry;
The empire or the elegy?
The era or the output;
The war on men—the war on __
Am I supposed to choose
Between the leader and the writer?
The philosopher and the artist?
The only time I ever feel wasted
When I pursue what I'm "supposed" to.
No wonder the scorn; no wonder the arrows.
I was born to fly further than history:
I breathe mountain air:
No wonder it isn't fair.
Blistering command; brittle bulwark:
Should I help build a better future
Or pour fire on their foundations?
Neither yields inclusiveness—
A leader stays well ahead,
And a philosopher lies well outside—
Being in was always out
Of the question—
The question: give the answer,
Or obscure the question?
Can you endure my seriousness
And learn to love fatality?
Anti-Christ, anarchist and bastard:
Protagonist, writer and hero.
No contradiction. No paradox.
Serotonin tells the truth:
Society obscures it all.
Too harsh, too true, too cold—
No—you're too soft, too false, too supplicant.
Take it from the only one who embraces both
— The consciousness and the animal—
For he who tears muscles and smiles
Is he who bears the truth for miles
More than most: For it is not whether you speak the truth,
But whether you listen. No one
Can blame you for no discovering truth—
But I will destroy you who do not listen.
Scorn only the stupid: they have been gifted
The genius of mankind, and still interrupt.
"Whereof one cannot speak, one must be silent"—
Why, then, do you raise your voice?
So many lives would be better lived as instrumentals.
But I am also to blame: if you, too,
Speak the truth and feel it press upon your skin...
Do not hold your breath—we need you.
All of us who wish for something better—
The few of us, we diamond beads strung sparsely
Along the string of time—we do not often meet
Except in spirit, quite asynchronously—
But we love you and your intellect,
Your strength, your power and your passion.
And so I ask again: Nietzsche or Napoleon?
Neither, because not or:
Try and—try both—try more.
A Poem,
Published 14 October 2015
Published 14 October 2015