Once more, before I move on

and set my sights ahead,

in loneliness I lift my hands up to you,

you to whom I flee,

to whom I, in the deepmost depth of my heart,

solemnly consecrated altars

so that ever

your voice may summon me again.

Deeply graved into those altars

glows the phrase: To The Unknown God.

I am his, although I have, until now,

also lingered amid the unholy mob;

I am his—and I feel the snares

that pull me down in the struggle and,

if I would flee,

compel me yet into his service.

I want to know you, Unknown One,

Who reaches deep into my soul,

Who roams through my life like a storm—

You Unfathomable One, akin to me!

I want to know you, even serve you.

—Friedrich Nietzsche, 1864. Translated by Michael Moynihan

Nietzsche here frankly expresses a strikingly...