To strange horizons, untried lands,
To thee I lift my lonely hands
For whom my spirit yearns,
To whom, within its ultimate shrine,
Are solemn altars dedicate
While yet I wait
The summoning voice to claim me thine.
Thereon is writ in characters ablaze
The deep-cut legend, “To the Unknown God”;
For his am I, although my feet have trod,
Even to this hour, in foul and miry ways,
Yea, I will know thee, great Unknown,
Who shakest the foundations of my soul,
Urgent and clamorous as the thunder’s roll.
Eternally apart, eternally my own,
Yea, I will know thee — I will serve thee.
To thee I lift my lonely hands
For whom my spirit yearns,
To whom, within its ultimate shrine,
Are solemn altars dedicate
While yet I wait
The summoning voice to claim me thine.
Thereon is writ in characters ablaze
The deep-cut legend, “To the Unknown God”;
For his am I, although my feet have trod,
Even to this hour, in foul and miry ways,
Yea, I will know thee, great Unknown,
Who shakest the foundations of my soul,
Urgent and clamorous as the thunder’s roll.
Eternally apart, eternally my own,
Yea, I will know thee — I will serve thee.
--Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), German philosopher, philologist, critic, founder of nihilism, influencer of Nazism, vehement atheist and hater of Christianity, and yeah, I am just as surprised as anyone by this poem, but it was written when a young man before he denounced Christianity.
Scripture reference: Acts 17:22-31, Easter 6A
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