{"collection":"Ancient Near East","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/ane/iai/iai07.htm","path":"ane/iai/iai07.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/ane/iai/iai07.htm","text":"The hour has come when Izdubar will seek\n The cool enchantment of the cove, and slake\n His thirst with its sweet waters bubbling pure,\n Where Love has spread for him her sweetest lure,\n The maids expectant listening, watch and wait\n His coming; oft in ecstacies they prate\n O'er his surprise, and softly sport and splash\n The limpid waves around, that glowing flash\n Like heaps of snowy pearls flung to the light\n By Hea's\u00a01 hands, his Zir-ri\u00a02 to delight.\n And now upon the rock each maid reclines,\n While Ishtar's form beneath them brightly shines;\n Beside the fountain stands the lovely god,\n The graceful sovereign of Love's sweet abode.\n\"He comes; the shrubs of yonder jasmine near\n Are rustling, oh, he comes! my Izdubar!\"\n And thus her love she greets: \"Why art thou here?\n Thou lovely mortal! king art thou, or seer?\n We reck not which, and welcome give to thee;\n Wouldst thou here sport with us within the sea?\"\n And then, as if her loveliness forgot,\n She quickly grasped her golden locks and wrought\n Them round her form of symmetry with grace\n That well became a god, while o'er her face\n Of sweetest beauty blushes were o'erspread;\n \"Thou see-est only Nature's robe,\" she said.\n \"'Tis all I wish while sporting with my maids,\n And all alone no care have we for jades;\n And if with thee we can in truth confide,\n We here from all the world may cosey hide.\"\n She hurls a glance toward him, smiling na\u00efve,\n Then bounding from the rock, peeps from a wave;\n The waters fondling her surround, embrace\n Her charms; and now emerging with rare grace,\nShe turning says:\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Make haste, my hearts!\n Come forth! attend your queen!\" and then she parts\n The azure waves, to where, in dumb surprise,\n The King enchanted stands, and fondly eyes\n The Queen divine, while fascinating thrills\n Sweep wildly through his breast; as fragrance fills\n The rose-tree groves, or gardens of the gods,\n Or breezes odorous from the Blest Abodes.\n A longing, rising, fills his inmost soul\n For this sweet queen who offers him a goal\n His stormy life has never known, since he,\n His loved one lost beneath the raging sea;\n And all his calm resolves to seek no more\n A joy which passed and left his heart forlore,\n Are breaking, vanishing beneath her charms,\n Dissolving as the mists, when sunlight warms\n The earth, then scorching drinks the rising dews;\n Till he at last no longer can refuse,\n And love directs while he the goddess greets:\n \"Such wondrous beauty here no mortal meets;\n But come, thou Zir-ru,\u00a03 with me sweetly rest;\n Primroses, gentians, with their charms invest\n My mossy couch, with odorous citron-trees\n And feathery palms above; and I will please\n Thee with a mortal's love thou hast not known;\n In pure love mingling let our spirits run,\n For earthly joys are sweeter than above,\n That rarest gift, the honeyed kiss of love\n On earth, is sweeter bliss than gods enjoy;\n Their shadowy forms with love cannot employ\n Such pleasure as a mortal's sweet caress.\n Come, Zi-ru, and thy spirit I will bless;\n The Mandrake\u00a04 ripened golden, glows around;\n The fruit of Love is fragrant on the ground.\"\nAmid the Dud'im\u00a05 plants he now reclines,\n And to his welcome fate himself resigns;\nThe lovely queen beside him now doth lay,\n And leads his soul along the blissful way\n That comes to every heart that longs for love,\n When purest joy doth bless us from above;\n From her soft liquid eyes the love-light speaks,\n And her warm hands she lays in his, and wakes\n Beneath her touch a thrill of wild desire,\n Until his blood now seems like molten fire.\n Her eyes half closed begat a passion wild,\n With her warm breast, her loves hath beguiled;\n She nearer creeps with hot and balmy breath,\n And trembling form aglow, and to him saith:\n \"My lips are burning for a kiss, my love!\"\n A prize like this, a heart of stone would move,\n And he his arms around her fondly placed\n Till she reclined upon his breast, embraced,\n Their lips in one long thrilling rapture meet.\n But hark! what are these strains above so sweet\n That float around, above, their love surround?\n An-nu-na-ci\u00a06 from forests, mounts around,\n And from the streams and lakes, and ocean, trees,\n And all that haunt the godly place, to please\n The lovers, softly chant and dance around\n To cymbals, lyres until the rocks resound,\n Of goddess Ishtar chant, and Izdubar,\n The Queen of Love wed to the King of War.\n And he alarmed starts up and springs away,\n And furious cries, to Ishtar's wild dismay:\n\"What meanest thou, thou wanton brazen thing?\n Wouldst thou on me the direst curses bring?\"\n And lo! the goddess is transformed! the crown\n Of her own silver skies shines like the sun,\n And o'er her dazzling robes a halo falls;\n Her stately form with glory him appals,\n For Heaven's dazzling splendor o'er her flows,\n With rays celestial; o'er her brow there glows\n A single star.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Have I embraced a god?\"\n He horrified now cries; and she doth nod\n Assent.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"But, oh I wilt thou thy queen forgive?\n I love thee! stay! oh, stay! my heart you grieve!\n He springs beyond the mystic circling ring,\n And from their sight thus glides the angry King.\n Beneath the wood himself he doth disguise\n In tattered garments, on his steed he flies;\n And when he comes in sight of Erech's gate,\n His beggar's mantle throws aside; in state\n Again enrobed, composed his anxious face,\n Through Erech's gates he rides with kingly grace;\n O'er his adventure thus the King reflects:\n \"Alas my folly leads, my life directs!\n 'Tis true, the goddess hath seductive charms,\n E'en yet I feel her warm embracing arms.\n Enough! her love from me I'll drive away;\n Alas! for me, is this unfruitful day!\"\n23:1 \"Hea,\" god of the ocean.\n23:2 \"Zir-ri,\" spirits of the river, the sea-daughters of Hea.\n24:3 \"Zir-ru\" water-nymph.\n24:4 \"Mandrake,\" the \"love-plant.\"\n24:5 \"Dud'im\" or Chald. \u05d3\u05d5\u05d3\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd, and Syr. \u05d9\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05d7\u05d9\u05df, the \"love-plant\" or mandrake: perhaps also originally from \"du-du\" (\"love\") or ex. p. 25 \u05e8\u05d5\u05bc (\"particula\"), Arab. \"possessorem designante,\" et e) rad. Arab. \u05d3\u05d3\u05d9 (\"aegrotatvit\"),or \u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3 or \"amare.\" See Simoni's Lex. Man. Heb. et Chald. et Lat., pp. 204-206, and Park's Heb. Lex., p. 113, note \u2020.\n25:6 \"An-nu-na-ci,\" spirits of the earth.","title":"Ishtar and Izdubar: Alcove I: Column VI. Izdubar Falls in Love with Ishtar, the Queen of Love","type":"page"}