BEFORE SUNRISE
O SKY ABOVE ME! O PURE, DEEP SKY! YOU ABYSS OF LIGHT! GAZING INTO YOU, I TREMBLE WITH DIVINE DESIRES.
TO CAST MYSELF INTO YOUR HEIGHT — THAT IS MY DEPTH! TO HIDE MYSELF IN YOUR PURITY — THAT IS MY INNOCENCE!
THE GOD IS VEILED BY HIS BEAUTY: THUS YOU HIDE YOUR STARS. YOU DO NOT SPEAK: THUS YOU PROCLAIM TO ME YOUR WISDOM….
WE HAVE BEEN FRIENDS FROM THE BEGINNING:…
WE DO NOT SPEAK TO ONE ANOTHER, BECAUSE WE KNOW TOO MUCH: WE ARE SILENT TOGETHER, WE SMILE OUR KNOWLEDGE TO ONE ANOTHER.
ARE YOU NOT THE LIGHT OF MY FIRE? DO YOU NOT HAVE THE SISTER-SOUL OF MY INSIGHT?
TOGETHER WE LEARNED EVERYTHING; TOGETHER WE LEARNED TO MOUNT ABOVE OURSELVES TO OURSELVES AND TO SMILE UNCLOUDEDLY — TO SMILE UNCLOUDEDLY DOWN FROM BRIGHT EYES AND FROM MILES AWAY WHEN UNDER US COMPULSION AND PURPOSE AND GUILT STREAM LIKE RAIN.
AND WHEN I WANDERED ALONE, WHAT DID MY SOUL HUNGER AFTER BY NIGHT AND ON TREACHEROUS PATHS? AND WHEN I CLIMBED MOUNTAINS, WHOM DID I ALWAYS SEEK, IF NOT YOU, UPON MOUNTAINS?
AND ALL MY WANDERING AND MOUNTAIN-CLIMBING: IT WAS MERELY A NECESSITY AND AN EXPEDIENT OF CLUMSINESS: MY WHOLE WILL DESIRES ONLY TO FLY, TO FLY INTO YOU!
AND WHAT HAVE I HATED MORE THAN PASSING CLOUDS AND ALL THAT DEFILES YOU? AND I HAVE HATED EVEN MY OWN HATRED, BECAUSE IT DEFILED YOU!
I DISLIKE THE PASSING CLOUDS, THESE STEALTHY CATS OF PREY: THEY TAKE FROM YOU AND FROM ME WHAT WE HAVE IN COMMON — THE VAST AND BOUNDLESS DECLARATION OF YES AND AMEN….
I, HOWEVER, AM ONE WHO BLESSES AND DECLARES YES, IF ONLY YOU ARE AROUND ME, YOU PURE, LUMINOUS SKY! YOU ABYSS OF LIGHT! — THEN INTO ALL ABYSSES DO I CARRY MY CONSECRATING DECLARATION YES.
I HAVE BECOME ONE WHO BLESSES AND ONE WHO DECLARES YES: AND FOR THAT I WRESTLED LONG AND WAS A WRESTLER, SO THAT I MIGHT ONE DAY HAVE MY HANDS FREE FOR BLESSING.
THIS, HOWEVER, IS MY BLESSING: TO STAND OVER EVERYTHING AS ITS OWN SKY, AS ITS ROUND ROOF, ITS AZURE BELL AND ETERNAL CERTAINTY: AND HAPPY IS HE WHO THUS BLESSES!
FOR ALL THINGS ARE BAPTIZED AT THE FOUNT OF ETERNITY AND BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL; GOOD AND EVIL THEMSELVES, HOWEVER, ARE ONLY INTERVENING SHADOWS AND DAMP AFFLICTIONS AND PASSING CLOUDS….
THE WORLD IS DEEP: AND DEEPER THAN DAY HAS EVER COMPREHENDED. NOT EVERYTHING MAY BE SPOKEN IN THE PRESENCE OF DAY. BUT DAY IS COMING: SO LET US PART!
O SKY ABOVE ME, YOU MODEST, GLOWING SKY! O YOU, MY HAPPINESS BEFORE SUNRISE! DAY IS COMING: SO LET US PART!
… THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA.
