Thus thought Reverend DIG

(Original Print by The Reverend - after Nietzsche)

Alas wither shall I climb now with my longing.
I look out from every mountain for fatherlands and motherlands,
but nowhere have I found a home.
I am unsettled in every city and I depart from every gate.

The men of the present,
to whom my heart once drove me,
Are strange to me and a mockery,
And I have been driven from fatherlands and motherlands.

So now I love only my childrens land,
The undiscovered land in the farthest sea.
I bid my sails seek it and seek it.
I shall make amends to my children for being the child of my fathers
and to all the future for this present

Thus spoke Zarathustra

From ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ by Friedrich Nietzsche

This print is one of a series based on poetry and prose that have had some poignancy to me since my arrival in New Zealand. This poem of voluntary exile, change, journey, arrival and atonement speaks to me of my personal journey to and place here in Aotearoa. It also speaks of an awareness of the wider historical context and the intertwined history of my people and this place.

It is more relevant than a nineteenth century, german book about a fictional philosopher should rightly be!

Thus thought Reverend DIG