The Power to Will

by Peter Saint-Andre

The will is neither absolutely bound nor free,
Instead it's a continuum from weak to strong —
Just as what's done from love is neither right nor wrong,
But lives beyond the bounds that good and evil see.

We use one word, yet will is many things combined:
There's what I leave behind and that toward which I'm drawn,
The sunset of the old, arriving at the dawn,
And always a commanding thought within the mind.

This tensing of the bow, this fixing on a goal,
Is felt within by what commands and what's commanded —
A subtle sense of living up to what's demanded
By that which is most excellent within the soul.

Although the will to power seems to hold most sway,
The power to will is that which finally rules the day.

(cf. Beyond Good and Evil, ยง19)


Next: Nature's Imperative


Peter Saint-Andre > Writings > Nietzsche > Songs of Zarathustra