Gilgamesh

(in memoriam of Enkidu)

 

There is no justice

The gods cannot reveal

Who deserves to live

And who must die

They are not strong

Their fickle weakness

One way the wind blows, now the other

There is nothing to rely on

No mercy

No respect

No consideration

 

Rank and merit have no meaning

I am king

And hero

And I could not save my friend

The one I found and fought

And from whom I learned

That to be a god

One should be human, first

Then with both natures

Understand the world, at last

 

My heart is severed from the rest

My mind burns

With fire:

Regret, loss, shame

Lack of understanding

With nothing

Nothing

I may do

Though I would cleave infinity

Face the worst beast I have yet to meet

More so than the Beast of Heaven

With no sword

But with my soul, alone

For my friend’s return

 

C L Couch

 

 

By Anonymous (Mesopotamia) – Walters Art Museum: Home page  Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18784557

Early Middle Assyrian cylinder seal impression dating between 1400 and 1200 BC, showing a man with bird wings and a scorpion tail firing an arrow at a griffin on a hillock. A scorpion man is among the creatures Gilgamesh encounters on his journey to the homeland of Utnapishtim.

(Wikipedia text, “Gilgamesh”)