Supreme Socrates and Nay-saying Nietzsche Considered in the Context of the Eternal Recurrence

Nietzsche in ancient Greek straitjacket as Socrates with hemlock; image produced by Grok AI at the direction of the poet

If Socrates had had a watch, he would

Have wound it up there on his wrist before,

Yes, just before he drank that cup.  This good

Man much, much more than good, drank in the shore

Of Lethe at the shore of life.  He showed

That he was Superman, der Übermensch

In thought and courage, and then Nietzsche glowed

With hubris being just der Üntermensch

By his rejection of the huge thought one.

That greater one lived life inside his brain—

And saved his Alcibiades.  Not one

Has ever matched him, lacking stain.

  And Nietzsche’s brain?  It became a puddle:

    It melted into mental illness muddle.

© Phillip Whidden