Questionable Propositions

And because it's late and I tend to get irreverent when it gets late:

On Lavater’s Song of a Christian to Christ

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, trans. Anonymous

“Thou art! Thou art!!” Lavater says. “Thou art!!”
“Thou art!!! Thou art!!! Thou art, Christ our Lord!!!!!”
He would not be so violent in his repetition
if it were not a questionable proposition.




Lavater was a priest, poet and mystic with whom Goethe had an eventual falling out. Poets are such an irascible bunch that it's pretty much a mark of honor to have a famous poet pissed at you. If I were hiring for a position, I'd make it a prerequisite: first you must make friends with a poet, then have him disown you because of your views on whether a raven or a bluejay would be the conductor of a bird orchestra.