Babylonian and Assyrian Literature | Page 9

6: Sacred glass, sun-glass used to light the sacred fire.]
[Footnote 7: Incantation to Fire ("Records of the Past," vol. xi. p. 137). The Accadian and Assyrian text is found in "C.I.W.A.," vol. iv. pl. 14, and on tablet K. 49,002, in the British Museum.]
COLUMN V
ISHTAR AND HER MAIDS IN THE FAVORITE HAUNT OF IZDUBAR
The king while hunting where a forest grows,?Around sweet hyacinths and budding rose,?Where a soft zephyr o'er them gently flows?From the dark sik-ka-ti[1] where Kharsak[2] glows;?And Sedu[3] softly dances on the leaves,?And a rich odorous breath from them receives;?Where tulips peep with heliotrope and pink,?With violets upon a gleaming brink?Of silver gliding o'er a water-fall?That sings its purling treasures o'er a wall?Of rugged onyx sparkling to the sea:?A spot where Zir-ri[4] sport oft merrily,?Where Hea's[5] arm outstretched doth form a bay,?Wild, sheltered, where his sea-daughters play;?A jasper rock here peeps above the waves?Of emerald hue; with them its summit laves.
Around, above, this cool enchanting cove?Bend amorous, spicy branches; here the dove?Oft coos its sweetest notes to its own mate,?And fragrance pure, divine, the air doth freight,?To sport with gods no lovelier place is found,?With love alone the mystic woods resound.
Here witching Zi-na-ki[6] oft drag within?The waves unwilling Zi-si;[7] here the din?Of roars of sullen storms is never known?When tempests make the mighty waters groan;?Nor sound of strife is heard, but rippling rills,?Or softest note of love, the breezes fills.
And here the king in blissful dreams oft lies?'Mid pure ambrosial odors, and light flies?The tune in bliss; away from kingly care,?And hollow splendor of the courtly glare;?Away from triumphs, battle-fields afar,?The favorite haunt of huntsman Izdubar.
The Queen of Love the glowing spot surveys,?And sees the monarch where he blissful lays;?And watching till he takes his bow and spear?To chase the wild gazelles now browsing near,?She, ere the king returns, near by arrives?With her two maids; with them for love connives,?Joy and seduction thus voluptuous fly?Her Samkhatu,[8] Kharimtu[9] from the sky,?As gently, lightly as a spirit's wing?Oft carries gods to earth while Sedu sing.?Thus, they, with lightest step, expectant stood?Within this lovely spot beneath the wood.
Their snowy limbs they bare, undraped now stand?Upon the rock at Ishtar's soft command.?Like marble forms endued with life they move,?And thrill the air with welcome notes of love.?The its-tu-ri Same mut-tab-ri[10] sang?Their sweetest notes, and the Khar-san-u[11] rang?With songs of thrushes, turtle-doves and jays,?And linnets, with the nightingale's sweet lays,?Goldfinches, magpies and the wild hoopoes;?With cries of green-plumed parrots and cuckoos,?Pee-wits and sparrows join the piercing cries?Of gorgeous herons, while now upward flies?The eagle screaming, joyful spreads his wings?Above the forest; and the woodchuck rings?A wild tattoo upon the trees around;?And humming-birds whirr o'er the flowering ground?In flocks, and beat the luscious laden air?With emerald and gold, and scarlet, where?These perfect forms with godly grace divine,?In loveliness upon the rock recline.?Sweet joy is slender formed, with bright black eyes?That sparkle oft and dance with joy's surprise;?Seduction, with her rare voluptuous form,?Enchanteth all till wildest passions warm?The blood and fire the eye beneath her charm;?All hearts in heaven and earth she doth disarm.?The Queen with every perfect charm displayed?Delights the eye, and fills the heart, dismayed?With fear, lest the bright phantom may dissolve?To airy nothingness, till fierce resolve?Fills each who her beholds, while love doth dart?From liquid eyes and captivates the heart.?She is the queen who fills the earth with love?And reigns unrivalled in her realms above.
Beware, ye hearts! beware! who feel the snare?Of Ishtar, lest ye tread upon the air;?When ye her rosy chain of fragrance wear,?When blindness strikes the eye, and deaf the ear?Becomes, and heartstrings only lead you then,?Till ye return to common sense again;?Enthralled mayhap and captive led in chains,?Ye then will leisure have to bear your pains;?Or if perchance a joy hath come to thee,?Through all thy joyous life, then happy be!
[Footnote 1: "Sik-ka-ti," narrow mountain gorges.]
[Footnote 2: "Khar-sak," the Deluge mountain, where the ark rested.]
[Footnote 3: "Se-du," a spirit of the earth, and rivers.]
[Footnote 4: "Zir-ri," the spirits of the rivers, water-nymphs.]
[Footnote 5: "Hea," the god of the ocean.]
[Footnote 6: "Zi-na-ki," pronounced "zee-na-kee," spirits of purity.]
[Footnote 7: "Zi-si," corn-gods, or spirits of the corn.]
[Footnote 8: "Sam-kha-tu," one of the maids of Ishtar, "Joy."]
[Footnote 9: "Kha-rima-tu," one of the maids of Ishtar, "Seduction."]
[Footnote 10: "Its-tu-ri Same mut-tab ri," "the wing��d birds of heaven."]
[Footnote 11: "Khar-san-u," forest.]
COLUMN VI
IZDUBAR FALLS IN LOVE WITH ISHTAR, THE QUEEN OF LOVE
The hour has come when Izdubar will seek?The cool enchantment of the cove, and slake?His thirst with its sweet waters bubbling pure,?Where Love has spread for him her sweetest lure,?The maids expectant listening, watch and wait?His coming; oft in ecstacies they prate?O'er his surprise, and softly sport and splash?The limpid waves around, that glowing flash?Like heaps of snowy pearls lung to the light?By Hea's[1] hands, his Zir-ri[2] to delight.?And now upon the rock each