Thus Spake Zarathustra By Friedrich Nietzsche1."Into thine eyes gazed I lately, O Life: gold saw I gleam in thy nighteyes,--my heart stood still with delight:--A golden bark saw I gleam on darkened waters, a sinking, drinking, reblinking, golden swing-bark!At my dance-frantic foot, dost thou cast a glance, a laughing, questioning, melting, thrown glance:Twice only movedst thou thy rattle with thy little hands--then did my feet swing with dance-fury.-
My heels reared aloft, my toes they hearkened,--thee they would know: hath not the dancer his ear--in his toe!Unto thee did I spring: then fledst thou back from my bound; and towards me waved thy fleeing, flying tresses round!Away from thee did I spring, and from thy snaky tresses: then stoodst thou there half-turned, and in thine eye caresses.With crooked glances--dost thou teach me crooked courses; on crooked courses learn my feet--crafty fancies!I
fear thee near, I love thee far; thy flight allureth me, thy seeking
secureth me:--I suffer, but for thee, what would I not gladly bear!For
thee, whose coldness inflameth, whose hatred misleadeth, whose flight
enchaineth, whose mockery--pleadeth: --Who would not hate thee, thou
great bindress, inwindress, temptress, seekress, findress! Who would
not love thee, thou innocent, impatient, wind-swift, child-eyed sinner!Whither pullest thou me now, thou paragon and tomboy? And now foolest thou me fleeing; thou sweet romp dost annoy!I dance after thee, I follow even faint traces lonely. Where art thou? Give me thy hand! Or thy finger only!Here are caves and thickets: we shall go astray!--Halt! Stand still! Seest thou not owls and bats in fluttering fray?Thou bat! Thou owl! Thou wouldst play me foul? Where are we? From the dogs hast thou learned thus to bark and howl.Thou gnashest on me sweetly with little white teeth; thine evil eyes shoot out upon me, thy curly little mane from underneath!This is a dance over stock and stone: I am the hunter,--wilt thou be my hound, or my chamois anon?Now beside me! And quickly, wickedly springing! Now up! And over!--Alas! I have fallen myself overswinging!Oh, see me lying, thou arrogant one, and imploring grace! Gladly would I walk with thee--in some lovelier place!--In the paths of love, through bushes variegated, quiet, trim! Or there along the lake, where gold-fishes dance and swim!Thou art now a-weary? There above are sheep and sun-set stripes: is it not sweet to sleep--the shepherd pipes?Thou
art so very weary? I carry thee thither; let just thine arm sink! And
art thou thirsty--I should have something; but thy mouth would not like
it to drink!-
--Oh, that cursed, nimble, supple serpent and
lurking-witch! Where art thou gone? But in my face do I feel through
thy hand, two spots and red blotches itch!I am verily weary of
it, ever thy sheepish shepherd to be. Thou witch, if I have hitherto
sung unto thee, now shalt THOU--cry unto me!To the rhythm of my whip shalt thou dance and cry! I forget not my whip?-Not I!"-
2.Then did Life answer me thus, and kept thereby her fine ears closed:"O
Zarathustra! Crack not so terribly with thy whip! Thou knowest surely
that noise killeth thought,--and just now there came to me such
delicate thoughts.We are both of us genuine ne`er-do-wells and
ne`er-do-ills. Beyond good and evil found we our island and our green
meadow--we two alone! Therefore must we be friendly to each other!And
even should we not love each other from the bottom of our hearts,--must
we then have a grudge against each other if we do not love each other
perfectly?And that I am friendly to thee, and often too
friendly, that knowest thou: and the reason is that I am envious of thy
Wisdom. Ah, this mad old fool, Wisdom!If thy Wisdom should one day run away from thee, ah! then would also my love run away from thee quickly."-
Thereupon did Life look thoughtfully behind and around, and said softly: "O Zarathustra, thou art not faithful enough to me!Thou lovest me not nearly so much as thou sayest; I know thou thinkest of soon leaving me.There is an old heavy, heavy, booming-clock: it boometh by night up to thy cave:-
--When thou hearest this clock strike the hours at midnight, then thinkest thou between one and twelve thereon-
--Thou thinkest thereon, O Zarathustra, I know it--of soon leaving me!"-
"Yea,"
answered I, hesitatingly, "but thou knowest it also"--And I said
something into her ear, in amongst her confused, yellow, foolish
tresses."Thou KNOWEST that, O Zarathustra? That knoweth no one--"And
we gazed at each other, and looked at the green meadow o`er which the
cool evening was just passing, and we wept together.--Then, however,
was Life dearer unto me than all my Wisdom had ever been.-
Thus spake Zarathustra.3.
One!
O man! Take heed!
Two!
What saith deep midnight`s voice indeed?
Three!
"I slept my sleep-
Four!
"From deepest dream I`ve woke and plead:-
Five!"
The world is deep,
Six!
"And deeper than the day could read.
Seven!
"Deep is its woe-
Eight!
"Joy--deeper still than grief can be:
Nine!
"Woe saith: Hence! Go!
Ten!
"But joys all want eternity-
Eleven!
"Want deep profound eternity!"
Twelve!
THIRD PART.LX. THE SEVEN SEALS.(OR THE YEA AND AMEN LAY.)1.If I be a diviner and full of the divining spirit which wandereth on high mountain-ridges, `twixt two seas,-
Wandereth
`twixt the past and the future as a heavy cloud--hostile to sultry
plains, and to all that is weary and can neither die nor live:Ready
for lightning in its dark bosom, and for the redeeming flash of light,
charged with lightnings which say Yea! which laugh Yea! ready for
divining flashes of lightning:-
--Blessed, however, is he who is
thus charged! And verily, long must he hang like a heavy tempest on the
mountain, who shall one day kindle the light of the future!-
Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity and for the marriage-ring of rings--the ring of the return?Never
yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY!2.If ever my wrath hath burst graves, shifted landmarks, or rolled old shattered tables into precipitous depths:If
ever my scorn hath scattered mouldered words to the winds, and if I
have come like a besom to cross-spiders, and as a cleansing wind to old
charnelhouses:If ever I have sat rejoicing where old Gods lie
buried, world-blessing, world-loving, beside the monuments of old
world-maligners:-
--For even churches and Gods`-graves do I love, if
only heaven looketh through their ruined roofs with pure eyes; gladly
do I sit like grass and red poppies on ruined churches-
Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of rings--the ring of the return?Never
yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY!3.If
ever a breath hath come to me of the creative breath, and of the
heavenly necessity which compelleth even chances to dance star-dances:If
ever I have laughed with the laughter of the creative lightning, to
which the long thunder of the deed followeth, grumblingly, but
obediently:If ever I have played dice with the Gods at the
divine table of the earth, so that the earth quaked and ruptured, and
snorted forth fire-streams:-
--For a divine table is the earth, and trembling with new creative dictums and dice-casts of the Gods:Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of rings--the ring of the return?Never
yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY!4.If ever I have drunk a full draught of the foaming spiceand confectionbowl in which all things are well mixed:If
ever my hand hath mingled the furthest with the nearest, fire with
spirit, joy with sorrow, and the harshest with the kindest:If I myself am a grain of the saving salt which maketh everything in the confection-bowl mix well:-
--For there is a salt which uniteth good with evil; and even the evilest is worthy, as spicing and as final over-foaming:-
Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of rings--the ring of the return?Never
yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY!5.If I be fond of the sea, and all that is sealike, and fondest of it when it angrily contradicteth me:If the exploring delight be in me, which impelleth sails to the undiscovered, if the seafarer`s delight be in my delight:If ever my rejoicing hath called out: "The shore hath vanished,--now hath fallen from me the last chain-
The boundless roareth around me, far away sparkle for me space and time,-well! cheer up! old heart!"-
Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of rings--the ring of the return?Never
yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY!6.If my virtue be a dancer`s virtue, and if I have often sprung with both feet into golden-emerald rapture:If my wickedness be a laughing wickedness, at home among rose-banks and hedges of lilies:--For in laughter is all evil present, but it is sanctified and absolved by its own bliss:-
And
if it be my Alpha and Omega that everything heavy shall become light,
every body a dancer, and every spirit a bird: and verily, that is my
Alpha and Omega!-
Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of rings--the ring of the return?Never
yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY!7.If ever I have spread out a tranquil heaven above me, and have flown into mine own heaven with mine own pinions:If I have swum playfully in profound luminous distances, and if my freedom`s avian wisdom hath come to me:-
--Thus
however speaketh avian wisdom:--"Lo, there is no above and no below!
Throw thyself about,--outward, backward, thou light one! Sing! speak no
more!--Are not all words made for the heavy? Do not all words lie to the light ones? Sing! speak no more!"-
Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of rings--the ring of the return?Never
yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY!© 2008 Cyber Studios Inc.
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