{"collection":"Ancient Near East","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/ane/iai/iai36.htm","path":"ane/iai/iai36.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/ane/iai/iai36.htm","text":"The nectared cup the queen placed to his lips,\n And o'er his heaving breast the nectar drips,\n And now his arms are folded round his queen,\n And her fond kisses he returns again;\n And see! they bring to him his harp of gold,\n And from its strings, sweet music as of old\n His skilful hands wake through the sounding domes;\n Oh, how his Song of Love wakes those dark rooms!\n\"My Queen of Love comes to my arms!\n \u00a0\u00a0Her faithful eyes have sought for me,\n My Love comes to me with her charms;\n \u00a0\u00a0Let all the world now happy be!\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My queen has come again!\nForever, dearest, let me rest\n \u00a0\u00a0Upon the bosom of my queen!\n Thy lips of love are honeyed best;\n \u00a0\u00a0Come! let us fly to bowering green!\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To our sweet bower again.\nO Love on Earth! O Love in Heaven!\n \u00a0\u00a0That dearest gift which gods have given,\n Through all my soul let it be driven,\n \u00a0\u00a0And make my heart its dearest haven,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For Love returns the kiss!\nOh! let me pillow there within\n \u00a0\u00a0Thy breast, and, oh, so sweetly rest,\n My life anew shall there begin;\n \u00a0\u00a0On thy sweet charms, oh, let me feast!\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Life knows no sweeter bliss.\nOh, let me feast upon thy lips,\n \u00a0\u00a0As honey-bird the nectar sips,\n And drink new rapture through my lips,\n \u00a0\u00a0As honey-bee its head thus drips\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In nectarine abyss!\nO Love, sweet queen I my heart is thine!\n \u00a0\u00a0My Life I clasp within mine arms!\n My fondest charmer, queen divine!\n \u00a0\u00a0My soul surrenders to thy charms,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In bliss would fly away.\nNo dearer joy than this I want;\n \u00a0\u00a0If love is banished from that life\n There bodyless, my soul would pant,\n \u00a0\u00a0And pine away in hopeless grief,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If love be fled away.\nIf Love should bide and fold her wings\n \u00a0\u00a0In bowers of yonder gleaming skies,\n Unmeaning then each bard oft sings\n \u00a0\u00a0Of bliss that lives on earth and dies,--\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I want such love as this.\nI want thy form, thy loving breast,\n \u00a0\u00a0Mine arms of love surrounding thee,\n And on thy bosom sweetly rest,\n \u00a0\u00a0Or else that world were dead to me.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No other life is bliss.\nIf it is thus, my queen, I go\n \u00a0\u00a0With joy to yonder blissful clime;\n But if not so, then let me flow\n \u00a0\u00a0To soil and streams through changing time,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To me would be more bliss.\nFor then, in blooming flowerets, I\n \u00a0\u00a0Could earth adorn, my soul delight,\n And never thus on earth could die;\n \u00a0\u00a0For though I should be hid from sight,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Would spring again with joy!\nAnd sing as some sweet warbling bird,\n \u00a0\u00a0Or in the breezes wave as grain,\n As yellow sun-birds there have whirred\n \u00a0\u00a0On earth, could I thus live again,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That beauteous world enjoy!\n'Mid safflower-fields or waving cane,\n \u00a0\u00a0Or in the honeysuckles lie,\n In forms of life would breathe again,\n \u00a0\u00a0Enjoy Earth's sweetest revelry,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And ever spring again!\nEach life to me new joys would bring,\n \u00a0\u00a0In breast of beast or bird or flower,\n In each new form new joys would spring,\n \u00a0\u00a0And happy, ever, Love would soar!\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Triumphant filled with joy!\nIn jujube or tamarisk\n \u00a0\u00a0Perhaps would come to life again,\n Or in the form of fawns would frisk\n \u00a0\u00a0'Mid violets upon the plain;\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But I should live again!\nAnd throb beneath the glistening dew,\n \u00a0\u00a0In bamboo tufts, or mango-trees,\n In lotus bloom, and spring anew,\n \u00a0\u00a0In rose-tree bud, or such as these\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On Earth return again!\nAnd I should learn to love my mate,\n \u00a0\u00a0In beast or singing bird or flower,\n For kiss of love in hope could wait;\n \u00a0\u00a0Perhaps I then would come that hour,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In form I have again!\nAnd love you say, my queen, is there-,\n \u00a0\u00a0Where I can breathe with life anew?\n But is it so? My Love, beware!\n \u00a0\u00a0For some things oft are false, some true,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But I thee trust again!\nWe fly away! from gates away!\n \u00a0\u00a0Oh, life of bliss! Oh, breath of balm!\n With wings we tread the Silver Way,\n \u00a0\u00a0To trailing vines and feathery palm,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To bower of love again.\"","title":"Ishtar and Izdubar: Alcove II: Column V. Tammuz is Restored to Life by the Waters of Life--His Song of Love","type":"page"}