154 THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA, II
Yea, like me, ye are made for faithfulness, and for tender eternities. Must I now call you after your faithlessness, ye divine glances and moments ? No other name have I yet learnt.
Verily, too soon have ye died for me, ye fugitives. Yet ye did not flee from me, nor did I flee from you. Innocent we are towards each other in our faithlessness !
To kill me they strangled you, ye singing birds of my hopes ! Yea, after you, my dearest ones, wickedness always shot arrows to hit my heart!
And it hath hit ! For ye have ever been what was dearest unto me, my possession and my being possessed. Therefore ye had to die young and much too soon !
At the most vulnerable things I possessed, the arrow was shot. That was after you whose skin is like down and still more like the smile that dieth by a glance !
But this word I shall say unto mine enemies : What is all manslaughter compared with what ye have done unto me !
More wicked things ye have done unto me than all manslaughter is. What was irrecoverable for me ye have taken from me. Thus I say unto you, mine enemies !
For ye have slain the visions and dearest marvels of my youth ! For ye have taken from me my play-
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