This short story is one of the most remarkable I’ve ever read! How is it possible for a male to express with such insight, aspects of pregnancy which only a female is directly acquainted?

Surely the description of such an expectation of ‘the unknown’ must be attributed to extraordinary observation. And then the hidden and scared, the consequent inspiration which arises in us – is applied to any number of apparently mundane projects which we routinely undertake. Am I prepared to believe, to hope “something greater than I am is growing here?” As Nietzsche wrote “to watch over and restrain our souls”! Most of all I love his concluding approval of humor, the importance of being funny ourselves, and allowing others the privilege of humor! Enjoy!

Is there a more sacred state than that of pregnancy?

To perform every one of our actions
in the silent conviction that
in one way or another
it will be to the benefit of
that which is being generated within us
—that it must augment its mysterious value,
the very thought of which
fills us with rapture?

At such a time
we refrain from many things
without having to force ourselves to do so:

we suppress the angry word,
we grasp the hand forgivingly;
our child must be born from all that is best and gentlest.

We shun our own harshness and brusqueness
in case it should instill a drop of unhappiness
into the cup of the beloved unknown.

Everything is veiled, ominous;
we know nothing about what is going on,
but simply wait and try to be prepared.

During this time, too,
we experience a pure and purifying feeling
of profound irresponsibility,

similar to that felt by a spectator
before a drawn curtain;
it is growing,
it is coming to light;
we have nothing to do
with determining its value,
or the hour of its arrival.

We are thrown back altogether
upon indirect, beneficent and defensive influences.

“Something greater than we are is growing here”
—such is our most secret hope:

we prepare everything with a view
to his/her birth and prosperity
—not merely
everything that is useful,
but also the noblest gifts of our souls.

We should, and can,
live under the influence
of such a blessed inspiration!

Whether what we are looking forward to
is a thought or a deed,
our relationship to every essential achievement
is none other than that of pregnancy,
and all our vainglorious boasting
about “willing” and “creating”
should be cast to the winds!

True and ideal selfishness
consists in always watching over and restraining the soul,
so that our productiveness
may come to a beautiful termination.

Thus in this indirect manner
we must provide for and watch over the good of all;
and the frame of mind, the mood in which we live,
is a kind of soothing oil
which spreads far around us
on the restless souls.

—Still, these pregnant ones are funny people!

let us therefore dare to be funny also
and not reproach others
if they must be the same.

The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by J. M. Kennedy, aphorism 552, published 1911