Strength and Health

Goethe gave a literature of strength
And health -- and should we not be strong?
Why do we seem to go to any length
To say that strength and health are wrong?

I must confess, along with you, I held
Romantic views of illness, sang
The song of dissipation, those we geld
With institutions, those we hang.

But now I see that different kinds of health
Are brought about when we define
The human into realms of newfound wealth,
Diverse in taste as finest wine.

True beauty binds diversity to one,
Makes one diverse -- we should find joy
In all our healths, each learn how we can run,
Each learn to build and not destroy.

Romanticism, Classicism both
Are health -- as Hegel said -- are true
To who we humans are in all our growth.
A greater truth combines the two.

Yes, the eternal feminine must rise --
And raise true manliness aloft
As each sprouts feathers as poets devise
A verse of strength, both hard and soft.