The hands of those who legislate
Direct you to what's far away:
Salvation, science, riches, state,
The things that by convention pay.
Instead consider what is near
To be your weightiest concern
And focus your attention here:
Apply your powers and discern
What benefits you in the way
You interact with foe and friend,
The best division of the day,
Reflection on the time you spend
In work and leisure, art and play,
In nature and society,
In what you rule and what obey,
In courage and propriety.
The body has its wisdom, too:
Philosophy applies to sleep,
To what you eat, to what you do
In daily life — this too is deep
And subject to a higher code
Of individuality.
By following your natural mode,
You ground your own morality.
(cf. Human, All Too Human, Volume II, Part II, ยงยง5-6)
Next: Climbing toward Simplicity
Peter Saint-Andre > Writings > Nietzsche > Songs of Zarathustra