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Who Cries for Gilgamesh?
- Who Cries for Gilgamesh? -
The epic of Gilgamesh, in his own words!
Chapter One: The Sins of Uruk
Lo! Of old, the tales heroic, of heroes and kings,
Did inspire men to glory and dangers unknown…
And so was I, in Uruk, called many grand things,
Though in my heart much discord was ever sown.
Lonely is the mantle of the king; heavy the circlet,
And so comfort I sought in ladies of the evenings.
But on finer hope my heart was always to be set!
Thus even noble daughters and their pretty things,
Could not move my heart, for they were oft petty!
The people of Uruk were oft unkind and unready.
And so, to my sorrow, I lamented my sad crown,
Far better to be a wanderer, or even some clown!
Do not tell me the price of a kingdom is not high...
I have paid in my time, and so this I cannot deny.
Thence, in outcry against the sins of my own land,
I made great the suffering of the people of Uruk…
Until they prayed unto the elder gods of the sand,
To ease their mad suffering wherever it had struck.
Though the madness lay in their sick souls alone…
They blamed their lot on this man of flesh and bone.
And so prayed for my happiness that I might ease,
My anger against them: that they could not appease.
But long were those years, sevenfold if truth is said,
Until the living wished: to dwell amongst the dead…
But none suffered more than I, for my own needs,
Though the sins of Uruk warranted terrible deeds!
Yet nothing too wicked, nor nothing ever too tame,
Just enough to make them accept their true blame.
But even with their corruption and wicked shame…
The prayers of the people of Uruk, to fruition came.
I was out hunting one day in the reeds of the marsh,
When I spied a beautiful lady who there did wash…
In a clear pond pristine from a waterfall thereby fed,
The lady Kida was bathing, whilst the land had bled.
The cliffs around which that pond was to be seen…
Made my presence hidden from Kida’s eyes’ gleam.
Thirsty for love more than water, I ventured near…
And lovely Kida, my hastened presence did so hear.
Wild was she, with black hair long and to her feet…
Her childlike eyes met mine and the gaze was sweet.
We made love in the water, and our sprits did soar,
She would be my queen, even beyond death's shore.
Chapter Two: Gilgamesh and Kida
At last the people of Uruk cheered, at once content,
Their punishment over, their sorrows long ago spent.
Whilst regents ruled the kingdom with peaceful ways,
Kida and I went out to explore the old land for days.
Days became weeks as weeks passed with a glance,
Whilst the love Kida and I shared, grew larger still…
As we hunted the boar and took many a dire chance,
Waiting for the right moment to move in for the kill.
Spears at the ready, knives sharpened to the very tip,
We fought many a foe, many human, upon our trip.
Until at last the gods decided to test our bold desire,
By sending a demon out of Hell’s most terrible fire!
Do not tell me the hero's heart is easily subdued...
By gods or men, whose wills so often are construed.
And so Khumbatha, with his terrible blood-red face,
Did stalk the wilderness and mock even divine grace.
We heard from many who suffered from that fiend…
And so Kida and I were determined to slay him well.
Was this fate: the working of gods that thus deemed,
To test the will of man and woman pitted against Hell?
If so, we determined to answer the proud heroic call,
And we hunted the demon, sworn to cause his fall…
Into a forest of cedar trees, amidst the rugged rocks,
The beast’s lair was in a cavern carved from cracks.
Against the side of a stony ridge, deep and ever hot,
We fought and slew the monster as there we caught!
So little time we were given, though, for celebration,
Before another peril rose up, from out of damnation.
But the gods will test love and bravery as they wish,
And soon a terrible bull was sent from Heaven high.
The creature broke men’s bones like many a dish…
And soon it found us, the divine beast drawing nigh.
First hell-spawn and now this, the gods’ final test…
Which Lady Kida and I were so committed to best.
To my surprise, my beloved threw her spear so far,
That it pierced the bull’s heart like a bursting star…
Thence we returned unto Uruk, our journeying past.
We were to be wed, our happiness to forever last!
But on the night before the most sacred ceremony,
The gods decided to destroy our blessed harmony.
For vengeful and vain can be those proud deities...
When their plans are thwarted, with their dignities.
Chapter Three: The Death of Kida
From Heaven came the goddess Ishtar into flesh…
And in that guise, to the royal palace of Uruk came.
A woman in white, beautiful to behold and so fresh,
Pristine and perfect, her eyes as blue as cold flame.
Her hair golden spun, held back with a silver crown,
She walked delicately in her long, diaphanous gown.
She came upon me in my chambers during the night,
And I was blinded: by her beauty as by any starlight.
She whisked me away to a tent in a desert expanse,
Then she tempted me, with a most seductive dance!
She promised to make me a god with her my bride,
If only I would turn sweet Kida away from my side.
Do not tell me I should have abandoned love thus...
Sometimes, there are finer things than wanton lust.
But for that, I refused my own protecting goddess…
Who had guarded me from dangers, since my birth!
There are things that mean more, and others far less,
But truest love is something beyond all divine worth.
The bull had belonged to Ishtar, I thereafter learned,
Ever since Kida slew it, for revenge Ishtar burned…
And now that I had sent the goddess from my arms,
She plotted her worst against Kida’s simple charms.
I returned to the palace as if naught had so occurred,
The wedding transpired and our love was spurred…
Kida and I went to the wilderness, to make our love,
Never suspecting the wrath of Heaven, high above.
Countless stars spun above and each star radiant...
There was peace in the heavens and the firmament.
“Let us not go hunting tomorrow, my dearest heart!”
Kida said unto me before dawn made evening part…
“For I fear that my death will be the result in the end,
And I would not lose my love, who is also my fiend.”
Though I did not fear the gods as I now rightly do…
And when we went hunting Kida’s words came true.
The demon we had vanquished, Khumbatha, lived…
By the will of Ishtar, who breathed life back: therein.
He found our camp so we fought him just as before,
Kida and I wounded the monster bloody and sore…
But this time its’ blood was made toxic as any snake,
In our victory Kida was poisoned, her life it did take!
I tried to breathe life into my fallen soulmate's lungs,
But it was too late, and I felt a heartache that stung.
Chapter Four: The King’s Madness
Kida lay on her bridal bed without burial for so long,
That the priests said I was insane, that it was wrong:
“Do not delay her passage into death out of sad loss,
For doing so will force you to pay the final fell cost!”
But I could not let her go; I just kept staring at Kida,
I kissed her in the hopes that she would just awaken.
I caressed her black hair, and I had tried to feed her,
But her large brown eyes were lifeless and forsaken.
She was dressed in a gown fit only for a true queen,
And my heart was broken, for I still held our dream.
Eventually, death began to ravage her beautiful form,
And I could not stave off the horrible fly, and worm.
Do not tell me she wasn't worth the love we shared...
It was the deepest magic, as no other love compared.
At last, when naught was left of she whom I adored,
I bade the priests bury her, and I took up the sword.
Fighting in wars in lands foreign and near to home…
I cared not if I perished, so caring less for my throne.
I oft would ask of the men I slew: who cries for me?
But they did not know my name: nor my company…
Friends and foes alike said I had lost my very wits,
And I made war like a monster, prone to crueler fits.
This time naught could ease the madness consuming!
For my long lost Kida, my blade was ever dooming,
The souls of men, until the gods could not soon fill…
Room enough in Hell for those whose blood I’d spill.
My hate was unending, masking my deeper torment,
Which grew ready to burst forth, no longer dormant.
Fearful that I would not soon cease battling or relent,
The gods sent an angel unto me, to tell me to repent.
Her robes were crimson as a rose is want to appear,
And her hair was like platinum as she drew thus near.
Her eyes were emerald, and her cloak was all black,
As she reached forth a pale hand: to stop my attack.
“Brother, no more shall you punish your fellow men,
Kida’s end was not their fault, so do not condemn!”
And I rushed into her arms, pouring out my anguish,
Pleading with the angel to grant me my fondest wish.
“Death is not in my power to reverse, brother mine,
But, there exists a way to stop death, the next time.”
She dried my tears with a kiss and a silken sleeve...
And before we set out, she gave me time to grieve.
Chapter Five: The Journey Begins
In the company of the angel, I set forth with her aid,
No more to war: nor to let my heart become afraid.
My army returned to my kingdom; I left it behind…
As in Lucifer’s fair company, I wandered as if blind.
Unto the mountains in the west, we took old routes,
Arriving at a place where no human can be resolute.
The scorpion king and his sister bride, fell creatures,
Guarded a cavern carved into the tall mountainside.
Lucifer instructed me to ignore their fierce features,
And to slay the twin beasts, even where they abide!
With my bow I sent arrows flying across the waste,
That by the angel’s magic slew my foes, with haste.
Do not tell me that my journey was ever for naught...
No man could do more, and so that was my thought.
In safety we entered the cavern and thence a tunnel,
Which took us through darkness, for a seeming age.
Lucifer’s light illuminated the ancient rocky funnel…
As her words guided my steps, wiser than any sage.
We eventually emerged at the coastline of the sea…
Where a kindly fisherman bid us stay for some while,
Asking me wither I was bound in such fair company.
Lucifer winked at me, her face glowing with a smile,
Comforting me so that I could answer with clarity…
“I am on the hunt good sir: the hunt for immortality.”
And as I said that, the fisherman looked troubled,
Telling me to just enjoy life, for joy can be doubled.
He had a daughter who had yet to find love's bounty,
For they did live alone in that far and distant county.
I ignored the fisherman and stayed only till the morn,
And before I left, the old man’s daughter so awoke.
She was young and pleasant, and not ever careworn,
My arms longed to hold her, her dark hair to stroke.
But something in her childlike eyes so full of wonder,
Reminded me of Kida, who was taken like thunder.
If I could succeed in my quest and return to there…
Then I would marry that girl with the long dark hair.
And so Lucifer and I left the fisherman’s small hovel,
Journeying south and west, we came unto a swamp.
The soil was soggy enough to make a man hobble…
A stagnant river broke the land, noxious and damp.
The river of death: the locals called it by that title...
And it contained all the horrors of death, unbridled.
Chapter Six: The Last Immortal
Lucifer bid me to make a raft from old cedar bark,
And to craft: a long pole to guide it across the river.
I did as she instructed ever willing to hear and hark,
And soon, we passed where the dead alone shiver!
I saw in the water, drowned spirits seeking to rise…
I struck at them with my pole much to their surprise.
“Lest you forfeit your breath, touch not the water!”
Thus Lucifer cautioned me, that heavenly daughter.
After a mighty struggle, we managed to get across,
Though many a wave did, our makeshift craft, toss.
Finally, we entered a land of intense, burning heat,
And despite my sandals, burned red were my feet!
Do not tell me I should have run away, cowardly...
I was never a man who gives up and lets things be.
After days in that domain, we came to a deep hole,
Cut into the ground with stairs circling down below.
It lay beneath a hatch hidden by sand and debris…
Lucifer discovered this and cast it open effortlessly.
We descended the stairway, closing up the hatch…
To keep the sand from burying us: like weak thatch.
Across an underworld unknown to truer explorers,
We wandered as if lost amidst many untold horrors.
At length we came upon a lake beneath the ground,
A bridge leading out, unto an island in the middle…
Where a high brick wall encircled the island around,
In the middle of which sat: a dwelling, itself a riddle.
Through an archway we passed and through portal,
Into the humble dwelling, of the last living immortal.
There lived a hermit who was ancient beyond count,
Who had survived the flood spoken of in legendry!
The last immortal, his wisdom was like unto a fount,
Though far was he from any sign of civilized country.
Utnapishtim was his name; but Noah he preferred…
He told us how he built an ark though it was absurd,
And how his family the fatal old deluge had escaped!
When they passed on he had grown bitter of his fate.
And in his eyes I saw my own sorrow as magnified,
I almost hated to ask him, his dark secret to confide.
But at last he told me how me lived on, age stilled…
And so I learned: how death’s course may be willed.
His secret told, some power allowed his life to pass,
And thus he left this world perhaps greater, or less.
Chapter Seven: The Serpent’s Lesson
We returned from whence we came, until at length…
The fisherman’s home was in our view so welcoming.
Lucifer asked him to ferry us to an island by strength,
For the fisherman was mighty and his boat returning…
Even from the worst storms by virtue of his prowess,
Showed the man to be the one we could at last trust.
When we told him our destination he showed distress,
For it was a tiny island free from time’s decay or dust.
But it was said: to be forbidden unto all mortal sons…
So Lucifer assured him that no harm would be done.
Thereafter we set out guided by the generous fellow,
As the sun rose high in the heavens: bright and yellow.
Do not tell me the way hence was too harsh to dare...
I had naught left to lose, and so had laid my soul bare.
Upon the isle Lucifer instructed me to find an old tree,
The last of Eden’s garden: brought to a watery shrine.
I saw the bones of men who had come, only to flee…
Each man had been broken, snapped across the spine.
Wrapped around the trunk of the tree, in deadly coils,
Was a massive serpent that was weary from old toils!
I laughed, for its’ eyes were dim and its’ frame sickly,
Having had no food come unto its’ lair: for a century.
I reached out and plucked from off the tree its’ fruit…
The last it would ever bear, for then it dried to a husk.
But I had underestimated the serpent, that old brute…
Who slithered away after stealing the fruit in its’ tusks!
Oh, what irony, in that this most reviled of all fiends...
Should live, whilst love must die just before it gleams!
I sought in vain, after the monster; it dove off the isle…
And is there until the final days, its’ jaws filled with bile.
Somewhere in the depths of the sea, deep as an abyss,
Waiting for the end of time to release immortality’s kiss.
Long I sat upon that isle, mourning at last Kida’s fate…
Realizing loss is part of life; death comes soon, and late.
Her ghost then appeared to me and bid my tears stop,
For they kept her from slumber: and bade her manifest.
“Let me go, my love, let me to the underworld drop…
Find ye love, with the fisherman’s daughter; I will rest!
Life is for living, and love is life; why wait in mourning,
Whilst there she waits for ye, with new love dawning?”
And so I let my beloved Kida go, my grief finding sanity,
It was time to start my life anew, so I'd do it delicately.
Epilogue: The Return to Uruk
I left for Uruk, the fisherman’s daughter in my band…
Led home by an angel, as I held the young girl’s hand.
Her name was Kigash and she filled my days with joy,
Whilst Kida rested peacefully we had a girl and a boy.
Lucifer stayed for a time to ensure our contented reign,
Before bidding us a farewell, and retuning home again.
Immortality is for the soul alone, and joy our portion…
If we so accept the fleetingness of life: and live it fullest.
I learned this lesson, back near the dawn of creation…
When I was king in Uruk and nearly lost that very zest.
Now I have a different name, and wear different attire,
But I long to find true love again, before I must expire!
Do not tell me it isn't worth striving for so lofty a goal...
When your heart yearns for love, it's beyond all control.
The epic of Gilgamesh, in his own words!
Chapter One: The Sins of Uruk
Lo! Of old, the tales heroic, of heroes and kings,
Did inspire men to glory and dangers unknown…
And so was I, in Uruk, called many grand things,
Though in my heart much discord was ever sown.
Lonely is the mantle of the king; heavy the circlet,
And so comfort I sought in ladies of the evenings.
But on finer hope my heart was always to be set!
Thus even noble daughters and their pretty things,
Could not move my heart, for they were oft petty!
The people of Uruk were oft unkind and unready.
And so, to my sorrow, I lamented my sad crown,
Far better to be a wanderer, or even some clown!
Do not tell me the price of a kingdom is not high...
I have paid in my time, and so this I cannot deny.
Thence, in outcry against the sins of my own land,
I made great the suffering of the people of Uruk…
Until they prayed unto the elder gods of the sand,
To ease their mad suffering wherever it had struck.
Though the madness lay in their sick souls alone…
They blamed their lot on this man of flesh and bone.
And so prayed for my happiness that I might ease,
My anger against them: that they could not appease.
But long were those years, sevenfold if truth is said,
Until the living wished: to dwell amongst the dead…
But none suffered more than I, for my own needs,
Though the sins of Uruk warranted terrible deeds!
Yet nothing too wicked, nor nothing ever too tame,
Just enough to make them accept their true blame.
But even with their corruption and wicked shame…
The prayers of the people of Uruk, to fruition came.
I was out hunting one day in the reeds of the marsh,
When I spied a beautiful lady who there did wash…
In a clear pond pristine from a waterfall thereby fed,
The lady Kida was bathing, whilst the land had bled.
The cliffs around which that pond was to be seen…
Made my presence hidden from Kida’s eyes’ gleam.
Thirsty for love more than water, I ventured near…
And lovely Kida, my hastened presence did so hear.
Wild was she, with black hair long and to her feet…
Her childlike eyes met mine and the gaze was sweet.
We made love in the water, and our sprits did soar,
She would be my queen, even beyond death's shore.
Chapter Two: Gilgamesh and Kida
At last the people of Uruk cheered, at once content,
Their punishment over, their sorrows long ago spent.
Whilst regents ruled the kingdom with peaceful ways,
Kida and I went out to explore the old land for days.
Days became weeks as weeks passed with a glance,
Whilst the love Kida and I shared, grew larger still…
As we hunted the boar and took many a dire chance,
Waiting for the right moment to move in for the kill.
Spears at the ready, knives sharpened to the very tip,
We fought many a foe, many human, upon our trip.
Until at last the gods decided to test our bold desire,
By sending a demon out of Hell’s most terrible fire!
Do not tell me the hero's heart is easily subdued...
By gods or men, whose wills so often are construed.
And so Khumbatha, with his terrible blood-red face,
Did stalk the wilderness and mock even divine grace.
We heard from many who suffered from that fiend…
And so Kida and I were determined to slay him well.
Was this fate: the working of gods that thus deemed,
To test the will of man and woman pitted against Hell?
If so, we determined to answer the proud heroic call,
And we hunted the demon, sworn to cause his fall…
Into a forest of cedar trees, amidst the rugged rocks,
The beast’s lair was in a cavern carved from cracks.
Against the side of a stony ridge, deep and ever hot,
We fought and slew the monster as there we caught!
So little time we were given, though, for celebration,
Before another peril rose up, from out of damnation.
But the gods will test love and bravery as they wish,
And soon a terrible bull was sent from Heaven high.
The creature broke men’s bones like many a dish…
And soon it found us, the divine beast drawing nigh.
First hell-spawn and now this, the gods’ final test…
Which Lady Kida and I were so committed to best.
To my surprise, my beloved threw her spear so far,
That it pierced the bull’s heart like a bursting star…
Thence we returned unto Uruk, our journeying past.
We were to be wed, our happiness to forever last!
But on the night before the most sacred ceremony,
The gods decided to destroy our blessed harmony.
For vengeful and vain can be those proud deities...
When their plans are thwarted, with their dignities.
Chapter Three: The Death of Kida
From Heaven came the goddess Ishtar into flesh…
And in that guise, to the royal palace of Uruk came.
A woman in white, beautiful to behold and so fresh,
Pristine and perfect, her eyes as blue as cold flame.
Her hair golden spun, held back with a silver crown,
She walked delicately in her long, diaphanous gown.
She came upon me in my chambers during the night,
And I was blinded: by her beauty as by any starlight.
She whisked me away to a tent in a desert expanse,
Then she tempted me, with a most seductive dance!
She promised to make me a god with her my bride,
If only I would turn sweet Kida away from my side.
Do not tell me I should have abandoned love thus...
Sometimes, there are finer things than wanton lust.
But for that, I refused my own protecting goddess…
Who had guarded me from dangers, since my birth!
There are things that mean more, and others far less,
But truest love is something beyond all divine worth.
The bull had belonged to Ishtar, I thereafter learned,
Ever since Kida slew it, for revenge Ishtar burned…
And now that I had sent the goddess from my arms,
She plotted her worst against Kida’s simple charms.
I returned to the palace as if naught had so occurred,
The wedding transpired and our love was spurred…
Kida and I went to the wilderness, to make our love,
Never suspecting the wrath of Heaven, high above.
Countless stars spun above and each star radiant...
There was peace in the heavens and the firmament.
“Let us not go hunting tomorrow, my dearest heart!”
Kida said unto me before dawn made evening part…
“For I fear that my death will be the result in the end,
And I would not lose my love, who is also my fiend.”
Though I did not fear the gods as I now rightly do…
And when we went hunting Kida’s words came true.
The demon we had vanquished, Khumbatha, lived…
By the will of Ishtar, who breathed life back: therein.
He found our camp so we fought him just as before,
Kida and I wounded the monster bloody and sore…
But this time its’ blood was made toxic as any snake,
In our victory Kida was poisoned, her life it did take!
I tried to breathe life into my fallen soulmate's lungs,
But it was too late, and I felt a heartache that stung.
Chapter Four: The King’s Madness
Kida lay on her bridal bed without burial for so long,
That the priests said I was insane, that it was wrong:
“Do not delay her passage into death out of sad loss,
For doing so will force you to pay the final fell cost!”
But I could not let her go; I just kept staring at Kida,
I kissed her in the hopes that she would just awaken.
I caressed her black hair, and I had tried to feed her,
But her large brown eyes were lifeless and forsaken.
She was dressed in a gown fit only for a true queen,
And my heart was broken, for I still held our dream.
Eventually, death began to ravage her beautiful form,
And I could not stave off the horrible fly, and worm.
Do not tell me she wasn't worth the love we shared...
It was the deepest magic, as no other love compared.
At last, when naught was left of she whom I adored,
I bade the priests bury her, and I took up the sword.
Fighting in wars in lands foreign and near to home…
I cared not if I perished, so caring less for my throne.
I oft would ask of the men I slew: who cries for me?
But they did not know my name: nor my company…
Friends and foes alike said I had lost my very wits,
And I made war like a monster, prone to crueler fits.
This time naught could ease the madness consuming!
For my long lost Kida, my blade was ever dooming,
The souls of men, until the gods could not soon fill…
Room enough in Hell for those whose blood I’d spill.
My hate was unending, masking my deeper torment,
Which grew ready to burst forth, no longer dormant.
Fearful that I would not soon cease battling or relent,
The gods sent an angel unto me, to tell me to repent.
Her robes were crimson as a rose is want to appear,
And her hair was like platinum as she drew thus near.
Her eyes were emerald, and her cloak was all black,
As she reached forth a pale hand: to stop my attack.
“Brother, no more shall you punish your fellow men,
Kida’s end was not their fault, so do not condemn!”
And I rushed into her arms, pouring out my anguish,
Pleading with the angel to grant me my fondest wish.
“Death is not in my power to reverse, brother mine,
But, there exists a way to stop death, the next time.”
She dried my tears with a kiss and a silken sleeve...
And before we set out, she gave me time to grieve.
Chapter Five: The Journey Begins
In the company of the angel, I set forth with her aid,
No more to war: nor to let my heart become afraid.
My army returned to my kingdom; I left it behind…
As in Lucifer’s fair company, I wandered as if blind.
Unto the mountains in the west, we took old routes,
Arriving at a place where no human can be resolute.
The scorpion king and his sister bride, fell creatures,
Guarded a cavern carved into the tall mountainside.
Lucifer instructed me to ignore their fierce features,
And to slay the twin beasts, even where they abide!
With my bow I sent arrows flying across the waste,
That by the angel’s magic slew my foes, with haste.
Do not tell me that my journey was ever for naught...
No man could do more, and so that was my thought.
In safety we entered the cavern and thence a tunnel,
Which took us through darkness, for a seeming age.
Lucifer’s light illuminated the ancient rocky funnel…
As her words guided my steps, wiser than any sage.
We eventually emerged at the coastline of the sea…
Where a kindly fisherman bid us stay for some while,
Asking me wither I was bound in such fair company.
Lucifer winked at me, her face glowing with a smile,
Comforting me so that I could answer with clarity…
“I am on the hunt good sir: the hunt for immortality.”
And as I said that, the fisherman looked troubled,
Telling me to just enjoy life, for joy can be doubled.
He had a daughter who had yet to find love's bounty,
For they did live alone in that far and distant county.
I ignored the fisherman and stayed only till the morn,
And before I left, the old man’s daughter so awoke.
She was young and pleasant, and not ever careworn,
My arms longed to hold her, her dark hair to stroke.
But something in her childlike eyes so full of wonder,
Reminded me of Kida, who was taken like thunder.
If I could succeed in my quest and return to there…
Then I would marry that girl with the long dark hair.
And so Lucifer and I left the fisherman’s small hovel,
Journeying south and west, we came unto a swamp.
The soil was soggy enough to make a man hobble…
A stagnant river broke the land, noxious and damp.
The river of death: the locals called it by that title...
And it contained all the horrors of death, unbridled.
Chapter Six: The Last Immortal
Lucifer bid me to make a raft from old cedar bark,
And to craft: a long pole to guide it across the river.
I did as she instructed ever willing to hear and hark,
And soon, we passed where the dead alone shiver!
I saw in the water, drowned spirits seeking to rise…
I struck at them with my pole much to their surprise.
“Lest you forfeit your breath, touch not the water!”
Thus Lucifer cautioned me, that heavenly daughter.
After a mighty struggle, we managed to get across,
Though many a wave did, our makeshift craft, toss.
Finally, we entered a land of intense, burning heat,
And despite my sandals, burned red were my feet!
Do not tell me I should have run away, cowardly...
I was never a man who gives up and lets things be.
After days in that domain, we came to a deep hole,
Cut into the ground with stairs circling down below.
It lay beneath a hatch hidden by sand and debris…
Lucifer discovered this and cast it open effortlessly.
We descended the stairway, closing up the hatch…
To keep the sand from burying us: like weak thatch.
Across an underworld unknown to truer explorers,
We wandered as if lost amidst many untold horrors.
At length we came upon a lake beneath the ground,
A bridge leading out, unto an island in the middle…
Where a high brick wall encircled the island around,
In the middle of which sat: a dwelling, itself a riddle.
Through an archway we passed and through portal,
Into the humble dwelling, of the last living immortal.
There lived a hermit who was ancient beyond count,
Who had survived the flood spoken of in legendry!
The last immortal, his wisdom was like unto a fount,
Though far was he from any sign of civilized country.
Utnapishtim was his name; but Noah he preferred…
He told us how he built an ark though it was absurd,
And how his family the fatal old deluge had escaped!
When they passed on he had grown bitter of his fate.
And in his eyes I saw my own sorrow as magnified,
I almost hated to ask him, his dark secret to confide.
But at last he told me how me lived on, age stilled…
And so I learned: how death’s course may be willed.
His secret told, some power allowed his life to pass,
And thus he left this world perhaps greater, or less.
Chapter Seven: The Serpent’s Lesson
We returned from whence we came, until at length…
The fisherman’s home was in our view so welcoming.
Lucifer asked him to ferry us to an island by strength,
For the fisherman was mighty and his boat returning…
Even from the worst storms by virtue of his prowess,
Showed the man to be the one we could at last trust.
When we told him our destination he showed distress,
For it was a tiny island free from time’s decay or dust.
But it was said: to be forbidden unto all mortal sons…
So Lucifer assured him that no harm would be done.
Thereafter we set out guided by the generous fellow,
As the sun rose high in the heavens: bright and yellow.
Do not tell me the way hence was too harsh to dare...
I had naught left to lose, and so had laid my soul bare.
Upon the isle Lucifer instructed me to find an old tree,
The last of Eden’s garden: brought to a watery shrine.
I saw the bones of men who had come, only to flee…
Each man had been broken, snapped across the spine.
Wrapped around the trunk of the tree, in deadly coils,
Was a massive serpent that was weary from old toils!
I laughed, for its’ eyes were dim and its’ frame sickly,
Having had no food come unto its’ lair: for a century.
I reached out and plucked from off the tree its’ fruit…
The last it would ever bear, for then it dried to a husk.
But I had underestimated the serpent, that old brute…
Who slithered away after stealing the fruit in its’ tusks!
Oh, what irony, in that this most reviled of all fiends...
Should live, whilst love must die just before it gleams!
I sought in vain, after the monster; it dove off the isle…
And is there until the final days, its’ jaws filled with bile.
Somewhere in the depths of the sea, deep as an abyss,
Waiting for the end of time to release immortality’s kiss.
Long I sat upon that isle, mourning at last Kida’s fate…
Realizing loss is part of life; death comes soon, and late.
Her ghost then appeared to me and bid my tears stop,
For they kept her from slumber: and bade her manifest.
“Let me go, my love, let me to the underworld drop…
Find ye love, with the fisherman’s daughter; I will rest!
Life is for living, and love is life; why wait in mourning,
Whilst there she waits for ye, with new love dawning?”
And so I let my beloved Kida go, my grief finding sanity,
It was time to start my life anew, so I'd do it delicately.
Epilogue: The Return to Uruk
I left for Uruk, the fisherman’s daughter in my band…
Led home by an angel, as I held the young girl’s hand.
Her name was Kigash and she filled my days with joy,
Whilst Kida rested peacefully we had a girl and a boy.
Lucifer stayed for a time to ensure our contented reign,
Before bidding us a farewell, and retuning home again.
Immortality is for the soul alone, and joy our portion…
If we so accept the fleetingness of life: and live it fullest.
I learned this lesson, back near the dawn of creation…
When I was king in Uruk and nearly lost that very zest.
Now I have a different name, and wear different attire,
But I long to find true love again, before I must expire!
Do not tell me it isn't worth striving for so lofty a goal...
When your heart yearns for love, it's beyond all control.
Published 22nd Sep 2011
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