{"collection":"Ancient Near East","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/ane/iai/iai49.htm","path":"ane/iai/iai49.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/ane/iai/iai49.htm","text":"Sweet Mua lifts her eyes toward the heights\n That glow afar beneath the softened lights\n That rest upon the mountain's crystalline.\n And see! they change their hues incarnadine\n To gold, and emerald, and opaline;\n Swift changing to a softened festucine\n Before the eye. And thus they change their hues\n To please the sight of every soul that views\n Them in that Land; but she heeds not the skies,\n Or glorious splendor of her home; her eves\n Have that far look of spirits viewing men\n On earth, from the invisible mane,\n That erstwhile rests upon the mortal eye,--\n A longing for that home beyond the sky;\nA yearning for that bliss that love imparts,\n Where pain and sorrow reach no mortal hearts.\nA light now breaks across her beauteous face;\n She, turning, says to him with Heavenly grace:\n\"Dear Izdubar, thou knowest how I love\n Thee, how my heart my love doth daily prove;\n And, oh, I cannot let thee go alone.\n I know not what awaits each soul there gone.\n Our spirits often leave this glorious land,\n Invisible return on earth, and stand\n Amidst its flowerets, 'neath its glorious skies.\n Thou knowest every spirit here oft flies\n From earth, but none its secrets to us tell,\n Lest some dark sorrow might here work its spell.\n And, oh, I could not see dark suffering, woe\n There spread, with power none to stop its flow!\nI saw thee coming to us struck with fire,\n Oh, how to aid thee did my heart desire!\n Our tablets tell us how dread sorrow spreads\n Upon that world and mars its glowing meads.\n But, oh, so happy am I, here to know\n That they with us here end all sorrow, woe.\n O precious Izdubar! its sights would strike\n Me there with sadness, and my heart would break!\n And yet I learn that it is glorious, sweet!\n To there enjoy its happiness,--so fleet\n It speeds to sorrowing hearts to turn their tears\n To joy! How sweet to them when it appears,\n And sends a gleam of Heaven through their lives!\nNo! no! dear heart! I cannot go! It grieves\n Thee! come, my dear one! quick to us return;\n We here again will pair our love, and learn\n How sweet it is to meet with joy again;\n How happy will sweet love come to us then!\"\nShe rests her head upon his breast, and lifts\n Her face for Love's sweet kiss, and from them drifts[paragraph continues] \nA halo o'er the shining gesdin-trees\n And spreads around them Heaven's holy rays.\n He kisses her sweet lips, and brow, and eyes,\n Then turns his gaze toward the glowing skies:\n\"I bless thee, for thy sweetest spirit here!\n I bless this glorious land, that brings me near\n To one that wafts sweet Heaven in my heart;\n From thy dear plains how can my soul depart?\n O Mua, Mua! how my heart now sings!\n Thy love is sweeter than all earthly things!\n I would I were not crowned a king!--away\n From this bright land--here would I ever stay!\n As thou hast said, I soon will here return;\n The earth cannot withhold me from this bourne,\n And soon my time allotted there will end,\n And hitherward how happy I will wend!\"\n\"And when thou goest, how my love shall there\n Guard thee, and keep thy heart with Mua here.\n Another kiss!\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Her form doth disappear\n Within the garden, gliding through the air.\n He seats himself upon a couch and rests\n His head upon his hand, and thought invests\n Him round. His memory returns again\n To Erech's throne, and all the haunts of men.\n He rises, turns his footsteps to the halls,\n And thoughtful disappears within its walls.","title":"Ishtar and Izdubar: Alcove II: Column VI. Mua's Answer","type":"page"}