Adrift: Hölderlin: Zu Sokrates Zeiten / In the Days of Socrates

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A Japanese home drifts in the Pacific Ocean in this photograph taken on 13 March 2011 and released on 14 March; ships and aircraft from the U.S. Navy's Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group are searching for survivors in the coastal waters near Sendai, Japan, in the wake of 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that officials say claimed at least 10,000 lives: photo by Reuters/U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan McCord

Time was God judged.

....................Kings.

............Sages.

....................who judges now?

Is the entire people
...judge? the holy congregation?
...No! O No! who judges now?
...........a race of vipers!...... false and cowardly
.....................the nobler word no longer
........On the lips
O in the name of
.............................................I call you
........Down, old daemon!

Or............ send
..A hero

Or
..Wisdom

16 March: people watch a television broadcasting Japan's Emperor Akihito's televised address to the nation at an electronics retail store in Tokyo; Japanese Emperor Akihito said on Wednesday that problems at Japan's nuclear-power reactors were unpredictable and he was "deeply worried" following an earthquake he described as "unprecedented in scale". It was an extraordinarily rare appearance by the emperor and his first public comments since last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands of people: photo by Issei Kato/Reuters

....Vormals richtete Gott.

...............................Könige.

........................Weise.

...........................wer richtet denn itzt?

..Richtet das einige
.....Volk? die heilge Gemeinde?
.....Nein! No! o nein! wer richtet denn itzt?
.................................ein Natterngeschlecht!... feig und falsch
.........................................das edlere Wort nicht mehr
.........................Über die Lippe
O im Nahmen
...................................................................ruf ich
..........Alter Dämon! dich herab

Oder... sende
......Einen Helden

Oder
.......die Weisheit.

16 March: medical staff use a Geiger counter to screen a woman for possible radiation exposure at a public welfare center in Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture, after she was evacuated from an area within a 12.4 mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant: photo by Asahi Shimbun/Reuters

16 March 2011: French safety agencies voiced deep worries for a tank holding spent fuel rods at Fukushima, and one said "the next 48 hours" were critical for keeping the fuel rods safely cooled; meanwhile, the Canadian Medical Assistance Team (CMAT) announced its departure from Japan after a new fire erupted at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, escalating the radiation exposure threat: photo by Rex Features/The Canadian Press

Seen from an HH-60G helicopter, a house drifts in the ocean east of Sendai, in this U.S. Air Force handout photo dated 14 March, 2011; the U.S. Air Force is conducting search and rescue operations over the area following Japan's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami: photo by Reuters/US Air Force/Airman 1st Class Katrina R. Menchaca

Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1783): Zu Sokrates Zeiten / In the Days of Socrates, fragment, c. 1803-1806, in Hymns and Fragments, translated by Richard Sieburth, 1984