{"collection":"Ancient Near East","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/ane/iai/iai13.htm","path":"ane/iai/iai13.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/ane/iai/iai13.htm","text":"As Zaidu sadly turns and rides away,\n The hermit from his cave comes forth to pray:\n \"Alas! hath all these wilds their charms here lost?\n And is my breast with wild ambition tost?\n My lonely cot I look upon with shame;\n Again I long to seek the fields of fame,\n Where luxury my remaining years\n May crown, and happiness may find--or tears;\n 'Tis true! I should have welcomed the bar-ru;\u00a01\n But he hath since returned to Subartu.\"\u00a02\n His harp he took from its dust-covered case,\n And kissed its carved and well-remembered face;\n And tuning it, he glanced toward the wood,\n And sang his farewell ode to solitude:\nFarewell, ye mountains, woods and trees--\n \u00a0\u00a0My heart doth long again for joy;\n I love your wilds and mossy leas,\n \u00a0\u00a0But oh, your solitude doth cloy!\nI love to see the bur-khi-is\u00a03\n \u00a0\u00a0Sweep stately o'er the mossy rocks;\n And tsabi\u00a04 in a wild like this,\n \u00a0\u00a0Hear the tattoo of red woodchucks.\nI love the cries of lig-bar-ri\u00a05\n \u00a0\u00a0The nes-i\u00a06 calling for their prey;\n And leaping of the na-a-li,\u00a07\n \u00a0\u00a0That fly in wildest fear away.\nI love the bu-hir-tser-i\u00a08 all,\n \u00a0\u00a0Khar-sa-a-nu sa-qu-u-tu;\u00a09[paragraph continues] \nHear cu-uts-tsi\u00a010 with thunder roll\n \u00a0\u00a0Across the skies within my view.\nI love to see the ca-ca-bi\u00a01\n \u00a0\u00a0Peep through the pine-trees o'er my home,\n And watch the wild tu-ra-a-khi\u00a02\n \u00a0\u00a0And arme\u00a03 welcome, to me come.\nFarewell! ye solitudes, farewell!\n \u00a0\u00a0I will not moulder rotting lie\n With no one's lips to wish me well;\n \u00a0\u00a0O give me immortality!\nBut what is fame? A bubble blown\n \u00a0\u00a0Upon the breeze, that bursts its shell,\n And all our brightest hopes are flown,\n \u00a0\u00a0And leaves our solitude a hell.\nThe holy minstrel bows his head in woe,\n And sweeps the harpstrings with a movement slow;\n Then lifts his eyes toward the setting sun,\n His evening invocation thus begun:\n\u00a04O Samas! to the lifting of my hands\n \u00a0\u00a0Show favor! unto me thy servant turn!\n What man before thy bless\u00e8d Light withstands?\n \u00a0\u00a0O thou! what mortal thine own words can learn?\n And who can rival them inviolate',\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a05Among the gods no equal thou hast found.\n In Heaven who of all the gods is great?\n \u00a0\u00a0O thou alone! art great through Heaven's bound!\nOn earth what man is great? alas! no one,\n \u00a0\u00a0For thou alone art great! through earth's vast bounds.\n When wide thy awful voice in Heaven resounds,\n \u00a0\u00a0The gods fall prostrate to our Holy One;\nWhen on the earth thy voice afar resounds,\n \u00a0\u00a0The genii\u00a06a bow to thee and kiss the dust.\n In thee, O Samas! do I put my trust,\n \u00a0\u00a0For thy great love and mercy wide abounds!\nO my Creator, God, thy watchfulness\n \u00a0\u00a0O'er me, oh may it never cease!\n \u00a0\u00a0Keep thou the opening of my lips! the fleece\n Of purest snow be my soul's daily dress.\n Guard thou my hands! O Samas, Lord of Light!\n And ever keep my life and heart aright!\n40:1 \"Bar-ru,\" an army officer.\n40:2 \"Su-bar-tu,\" Syria.\n40:3 \"Bur-khi-is,\" antelopes.\n40:4 \"Tsabi,\" gazelles.\n40:5 \"Lig-bar-ri,\" hyenas.\n40:6 \"Nes-i,\" lions.\n40:7 \"Na-a-li,\" spotted stags.\n40:8 \"Bu-hir-tser-i,\" beasts of the field.\n40:9 \"Khar-sa-a-nu sa-qu-u-tu,\" forests thick.\n41:10 \"Cu-uts-tsi,\" storms.\n41:1 \"Ca-ca-bi,\" stars.\n41:2 \"Tu-ra-a-khi\" deer.\n41:3 \"Arme,\" wild goats.\n41:4 This prayer is made up from Assyrian fragments now in the British Museum.\n41:5 See \"Records of the Past,\" vol. iii. p. 136.\n42:6a \"Genii,\" spirits.","title":"Ishtar and Izdubar: Alcove I: Column VI. Heabani Resolves to Return to Erech","type":"page"}