"Farewell, my King, my love thou knowest well; I go the road; in Hades soon shall dwell; To dwelling of the god Irkalla fierce, To walls where light for me can never pierce, The road from which no soul may e'er return, Where dust shall wrap me round, my body urn, Where sateless ravens float upon the air, Where light is never seen, or enters there, Where I in darkness shall be crowned with gloom; With crownèd heads of earth who there shall come To reign with Anu's favor or great Bel's, Then sceptreless are chained in their dark cells With naught to drink but Hades' waters there, And dream of all the past with blank despair. Within that world, I too shall ceaseless moan, Where dwell the lord and the unconquered one, And seers and great men dwell within that deep, With dragons of those realms we all shall sleep; Where King Etana[2] and god Ner doth reign With Allat, the dark Under-World's great queen, Who reigns o'er all within her regions lone, The Mistress of the Fields, her mother, prone Before her falls, and none her face withstands; But I will her approach, and take her hands, And she will comfort me in my dread woe. Alas! through yonder void I now must go! My hands I spread! as birds with wings I fly! Descend! descend! beneath that awful sky!" The seer falls in the arms of Izdubar, And he is gone;--'tis clay remaineth here. [Footnote 1:"Gesdin," the Tree of Life and Immortality.] [Footnote 2: "Etana," Lord or King of Hades. He is mentioned in the Creation series of Legends as having reigned before the flood.] COLUMN IV THE GRIEF OF THE KING OVER THE LOSS OF HIS SEER, AND HIS PRAYER TO THE MOON-GOD, WHO ANSWERS HIS PRAYER WITH A VISION The King weeps bitterly with flowing tears Above his seer when from him disappears The last faint breath; and then in deepest woe He cries: "And through that desert must I go? Heabani, thou to me wast like the gods; Oh, how I loved thee! must thou turn to clods? Through that dread desert must I ride alone; And leave thee here, Heabani, lying prone? Alas, I leave thee in this awful place, To find our Khasisadra, seek his face, The son of Ubara-tutu, the seer; Oh, how can I, my friend, thus leave thee here? This night through those dark mountains I must go, I can no longer bear this awful woe: If I shall tarry here, I cannot sleep. O Sin, bright moon-god, of yon awful deep! I pray to thee upon my face, oh, hear My prayer! my supplications bring thou near To all the gods! grant thou to me,--e'en me, A heart of strength and will to worship thee. "Oh, is this death like that the seer hath dreamed? Perhaps the truth then on his spirit gleamed! If Land of Silver Sky is but a myth, The other dream is true! e'en all he saith! Oh, tell me, all ye sparkling stars, That wing above thy glorious flight, And feel not Nature's jars; But grandly, sweetly fling thy light To our bright world beneath serene, Hath mortals on thee known Or viewed beyond,--that great Unseen, Their future fate by gods been shown?