Ecce Homo Complete Works, Volume Seventeen · Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
THE LITTLE BRIG NAMED "LITTLE ANGEL"[6]
"Little Angel" call they me!-- Now a ship, but once a girl, Ah, and still too much a girl! My steering-wheel, so bright to see, But for sake of love doth whirl. "Little Angel" call they me, With hundred flags to ornament, A captain smart, on glory bent, Steers me, puffed with vanity (He himself's an ornament). "Little Angel" call they me, And where'er a little flame Gleams for me, I, like a lamb, Go my journey eagerly (I was always such a lamb!). "Little Angel" call they me-- Think you I can bark and whine Like a dog, this mouth of mine Throwing smoke and flame full free? Ah, a devil's mouth is mine. "Little Angel" call they me-- Once I spoke a bitter word, That my lover, when he heard, Fast and far away did flee: Yes, I killed him with that word! "Little Angel" call they me: Hardly heard, I sprang so glib From the cliff and broke a rib: From my frame my soul went free, Yes, escaped me through that rib. "Little Angel" call they me-- Then my soul, like cat in flight Straight did on this ship alight Swiftly bounding--one, two, three! Yes, its claws are swift to smite. "Little Angel" call they me!-- Now a ship, but once a girl, Ah, and still too much a girl! My steering-wheel, so bright to see, For sake of love alone doth whirl.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.