AONYMOUS - GILGAMESH

Gilgamesh

He who saw the deep, the foundation of the country,

who knew the ways, was wise in all things.

Gilgamesh, who saw the deep, the foundation of the country,

who knew the ways, was wise in all things.

…..
The storm roared like a wild bull,

and the wind shrieked like a savage ass.

Darkness fell upon the land.

The whole earth was shattered like a pot.

For one day the south wind blew,

gathering speed as it blew,

drowning the mountains,

overtaking the people like a battle.

No man could see his fellow,

no one could recognize another

even from heaven.

The gods themselves were terrified by the flood;

they fled, they climbed to the highest heaven,

and cowered like dogs against the wall.

Ishtar cried out like a woman in childbirth:

“Let the former days be turned to clay,

because I spoke evil in the assembly of the gods!

How could I speak such evil?

I called for destruction,

and now my people are like the spawn of fish,

filling the sea.

Gilgamesh said to Utnapishtim:

Why should I not be like you?

Why should death belong to me,

while you have found life?”

Utnapishtim answered:

“Gilgamesh, you seek what cannot be found.

The gods decreed death for mankind,

but life they kept in their own hands.

You came into the world,

and your heart was already carrying death.

No one sees the face of death.

No one hears the voice of death.

Yet death waits for every human being.

Look upon the child and the old man.

Look upon the one who rises in the morning

and the one who does not rise.

Their days are given,

but no man knows their measure.

…..