Zarathustra's Prologue

When Zarathustra was thirty years old, he abandoned his home and the lake of his home and went into the mountains. Here he enjoyed his spirit and his solitude and for ten years did not tire of them. At last, however, there was a change in his heart - and so one morning with the dawn of morning he rose, stepped out before the sun, and spoke to it thus:
   'Greetings, Great Star! What would your happiness be, were it not for those whom you illumine!
   'For ten years you have come up here to my cave: you would have grown weary of your light and of this course without me, my eagle, and my serpent.
   'But we were waiting for you every morning, took from you your overflow and also blessed you for it.
   'Behold! I am overburdened with my wisdom: like the bee that has gathered too much honey, I need hands outstretched to receive it.
   'I should like to bestow and distribute, until the wise among human beings once again become glad of their folly and the poor once again of their riches.
   'For that I must descend into the depths: just as you do in the evening when you go down behind the sea and still bring light to the underworld, you overrich star!
   'I must, like you, go under, as human beings call it, to whom I would go down.
   'So bless me then, you tranquil eye, who can look without envy even upon all-too-great happiness!
   'Bless the cup that wants to overflow, that the water may flow from it golden and carry everywhere the reflection of your delight!
   'Behold! This cup wants to become empty again, and Zarathustra wants to become human again.'
   Thus began Zarathustra's going-under.

-Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra