Worms

Hayes, Worm 1766
Hayes, Worm 1766

We are not just food for worms, we ARE worms. This, at least, is how we appear in Schiller’s famous Ode to Joy:

Freude trinken alle Wesen
An der Brüsten der Natur,
Alle Guten, alle Bösen
Folgen ihrer Rosenspur.
Küsse gab sie uns und Reben,
Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod.
Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben, 
Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.

All beings drink joy
From nature's breast,
All things good or evil
Follow its rosy trace.
It gave us kisses and grapes,
A friend tested to the death.
A sense of pleasure was given to the worm
And the cherub stands before God.

Schiller, An die Freude		D 189

It may be that earthworms feel this universal joy, but Schiller’s main point is that we humans are mere worms.

In another poem (also set by Schubert) he referred to human beings as ‘rational worms’:

Zwischen Himmel und Erd', hoch in der Lüfte Meer,
In der Wiege des Sturms trägt mich ein Zackenfels,
     Wolken türmen
     Unter mir sich zu Stürmen,
Schwindelnd gaukelt der Blick umher,
  Und ich denke dich, Ewiger!

Deinen schauernden Pomp borge den Endlichen,
Ungeheure Natur! du der Unendlichkeit 
     Riesentochter!
     Sei mir Spiegel Jehovahs!
Seinen Gott dem vernünft'gen Wurm
  Orgle prächtig, Gewittersturm!

Between heaven and earth, high in ocean of wind,
In the hub of the storm a rocky ridge holds me up,
Clouds tower up
Under me forming storms,
I look around and feel giddy
And I think of you, eternal one.

Lend your shuddering pomp to finite things
Imposing nature! You, infinity's
Giant daughter!
Mirror Jehovah for me!
Let its God be known to the rational worm
By your mighty proclamation, thunderstorm!

Schiller, Hymne an den Unendlichen  	D 232

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