Punch/Volume 147/Issue 3818/The Two Germanies
Marvellous the utter transformation
Of the spirit of the German nation!
Once the land of poets, seers and sages,
Who enchant us in their deathless pages,
Holding high the torch of Truth, and earning
Endless honour by their zeal for learning.
Such the land that in an age uncouther
Bred the soul-emancipating Luther.
Such the land that made our debt the greater
By the gift of Faust and Struwwelpeter.
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Now the creed of Nietzsche, base, unholy,
Guides the nation's brain and guides it solely.
Now Mozart's serene and joyous magic
Yields to Richard Strauss, the hæmorrhagic.[*]
Now the eagle changing to the vulture
Preaches rapine in the name of culture.
Now the Prussian Junker, blind with fury,
Claims to be God's counsel, judge and jury.
While the authentic German genius slumbers,
Cast into the limbo of back numbers.
*↑ Great play is made in Strauss's Elektra with the "slippery blood" motive.