'Mensch' is a  German-Yiddish word

Meaning a person of integrity and honour.

The opposite of a "mensch" is an "unmensch"

Meaning an utterly unlikeable or unfriendly person.

There is nothing in between, no semantic shades of grey.

The divine gift, which we Germans have been known to spurn,

Is to say nobody is mensch or unmensch.

Or, my preference, everyone is mensch and unmensch..

If I say 'she is noble', 'she alone has all the virtues'

Even as I speak I know this is romantic blindness

Devils or angels are equally out of reach 

For most. תודה לאל. Thank G-d.

Possibly the reason why throughout a long life 

Goethe eschewed the label 'romantic'

Insisting upon his classical credentials

Was that romanticism robs the ordinary

Of its inherent extraordinariness.

Some say human mothers can distinguish their human babies by smell alone

Of all these tiny beings only this one dressed in green is mine

The 'special one' reigns supreme in the wards of uniformity

Predictably this is not an evolutionary trait that I approve of.....

Because it leads to....

Hail the unknown higher being!

Gegrüßt den glorreichen Führer!

Hail to the supermensch!

Now the kind old sun shines on everyone

Everyone is wet in rain

We are all dishevelled in windy stormy weather

We think we make decisions, perceive chains of cause and effect

Do stupid things when drunk

We still cannot control nature. Even as we mend her, we end her.

The sun shines on the good and bad

And next week it will burn them. 

Criminals exist in our mirrors

And also in our windows

Maybe it was easier to join the Nazi party

After the tribulations of hyper-inflation

People's life savings wiped out on a loaf of bread

Mass unemployment, famine

And being a camp guard....well, somebody has to do it, the uniform is free;

The moon and the stars and the tides and currents continue the same

The pay is regular in thunder or in hail or when the packed transports from Warsaw are a deep freeze.

Hurrying past one another. Excuse me. Excuse me. I have my job to do!