Wotan's Spear And The Death Of God Poem by gershon hepner

Inscribed on Wotan’s spear were laws
that even Wotan was forbidden
to break, surprising me because
I wonder whether there’s a hidden
connection between Wagner’s god
who’s dying and the Bible’s one
whom Nietzsche though was more than odd,
alive no more if ever He
had been alive. If He has died
it surely must be because we
His laws have broken and defied,
for unlike Nietzsche’s god the Bible’s
would never ever violate
a law, I think, unlike his rivals,
like Wotan, whom it’s hard to hate,
but hardly difficult to pity,
since he, like Nietzsche’s god, is dying.
If you don’t find this poem witty,
Give me some credit please for trying.

Inspired by a performance of Siegfried which I saw at the LA Opera last night, in which I was struck by the fact that Wotan’s spear was inscribed laws that he had to obey, linking him perhaps to the God of the Hebrew Bible who, according to the rabbis, is bound by His laws no less than His chosen people. I was also struck by the link between the dying of the gods illustrated by Wotan’s loss of power and Nietzsche’s concept of the death of God.

© 2009 Gershon Hepner 10/8/09