Babylonian and Assyrian Literature | Page 9

the heavens, us this day

Remember, oh, remember!
O spirit of the earth, to thee we pray,

Remember! Us remember!
"O God of Fire! a lofty prince doth stand,
A warrior, and son of the blue sea,
Before the God of Fire in thine
own land,
Before thy holy fires that from us free
Dread Darkness,

where dark Nuk-khu reigns.
Our prince, as monarch we proclaim,

His destiny thy power maintains,
Oh, crown his glory with wide
fame!
"With bronze and metal thou dost bless
All men, and givest silver, gold.
The goddess with the hornèd face

Did bless us with thee from of old.
From dross thy fires change gold
to purity;
Oh, bless our fire-king, round him shine
With Heaven's
vast sublimity!
And like the earth with rays divine,
As the bright
walls of Heaven's shrine."
[Footnote 1: "Sar," king.]
[Footnote 2: "Khanga," chorus.]
[Footnote 3: One of the Accadian psalms is here quoted from
"Chaldean Magic," by Lenormant, pp. 185, 186. See also "Records of
the Past," vol. xi. pl. 17, col. 2.]
[Footnote 4: Literally, "Right into my marrow, O Lords of breath."]
[Footnote 5: Literally, "Direct the breath of my mouth!"]
[Footnote 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