The HyperTexts

POEM IN FOCUS

Every month in The HyperTexts, the poet, critic and our contributing editor, Martin Mc Carthy, selects and comments on a poem, old or new, that has attracted his attention.

Poem in Focus, June 2025:

He Lived: Excerpts from “Gilgamesh”
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I.
He who visited hell, his country’s foundation,
Was well-versed in mysteries’ unseemly dark places.
He deeply explored many underworld realms
Where he learned of the Deluge and why Death erases.

II.
He built the great ramparts of Uruk-the-Sheepfold
And of holy Eanna. Then weary, alone,
He recorded his thoughts in frail scratchings called “words”:
Frail words made immortal, once chiseled in stone.

III.
These walls he erected are ever-enduring:
Vast walls where the widows of dead warriors weep.
Stand by them. O, feel their immovable presence!
For no other walls are as strong as this keep’s.

IV.
Come, climb Uruk’s tower on a starless night—
Ascend its steep stairway to escape modern error.
Cross its ancient threshold. You are close to Ishtar,
the Goddess of Ecstasy and of Terror!

V.
Find the cedar box with its hinges of bronze;
lift the lid of its secrets; remove its dark slate;
read of the travails of our friend Gilgamesh—
of his descent into hell and man’s terrible fate!

VI.
Surpassing all kings, heroic in stature,
Wild bull of the mountains, the Goddess his Dam
—She bedded no man; he was her sole rapture—
Who else can claim fame, as he thundered, “I AM!”

Commentary by Martin Mc Carthy

These six extracts from “Gilgamesh” are part of the prelude to this great epic poem, and are in essence an introduction to Gilgamesh himself - his world, his personality, and his past deeds that have brought him great renown. So what exactly do they tell us?

In Verse 1, we are told that Gilgamesh visited hell and was familiar with underworld realms and dark places, and that the tale of the “Deluge”, which he heard there, gave him his first real sense of man's mortality. (This is a very important detail in terms of the overall narrative of the story.)

In Verse 2, we find that he built the great city of Uruk and erected a beautiful temple to Eanna. Then he made his own deeds immortal by meticulously recording them on stone tablets.

In Verse 3, we are told that Gilgamesh's walls (his constructions) are “ever-enduring” and that no other walls can hope to match them.

In Verse 4, the poem's translator gives us an absolutely exquisite stanza that depicts the tower of Uruk on a starless night, and also mentions the goddess, Ishtar, who attracted many lovers but treated them badly.

Come, climb Uruk's tower on a starless night -
Ascend its steep stairway to escape modern error.
Cross its ancient threshold. You are close to Ishtar,
the Goddess of Ecstasy and of terror!

In Verse 5, we are told that Gilgamesh's epic tale, when it was finally written, was preserved for posterity in a cedar box with bronze hinges, and also that his “descent into hell” forms an integral part of the tale to come. Interestingly, Gilgamesh seems to be both narrator and hero of his own story, shifting between the past, the present and the future, as he writes.

In Verse 6, our hero is synopsised against the backdrop of his fame, his heroic deeds and a goddess who yearns for him, in another exquisite stanza.

Surpassing all kings, heroic in stature,
Wild bull of the mountains, the Goddess his Dam.
She bedded no man; he was her sole rapture.
Who else can claim fame, as he thundered, “I AM!”

Presumably, “I AM!” in the last line is a short way of saying “I am King” or “I am King of all I survey.” But this translation by Michael R. Burch is so sublime that he rarely misses an opportunity to suggest other meanings through the sheer power of language. In all, these six extracts from “Gilgamesh” are beyond good.

“Gilgamesh”, from which these extracts were taken and loosely translated by Michael R. Burch, is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia. The epic dates from c. 2150 – 1400BCE, and is considered the oldest epic in the world.

Originally published in The New Stylus



Poem in Focus, May 2025:

Lament to the Spirit of War
by Enheduanna
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

You hack down everything you see, War God!

Rising on fearsome wings
you rush to destroy our land:
raging like thunderstorms,
howling like hurricanes,
screaming like tempests,
thundering, raging, ranting, drumming,
whiplashing whirlwinds!

Men falter at your approaching footsteps.

Tortured dirges scream on your lyre of despair.

Like a fiery Salamander you poison the land:
growling over the earth like thunder,
vegetation collapsing before you,
blood gushing down mountainsides.

Spirit of hatred, greed and vengeance!

Dominatrix of heaven and earth!

Your ferocious fire consumes our land.

Whipping your stallion
with furious commands,
you impose our fates.

You triumph over all human rites and prayers.

Who can explain your tirade,
why you go on so?

Commentary by Martin Mc Carthy

“Lament to the Spirit of War” is the very first anti-war poem, and a very appropriate poem to publish right now, when wars are still raging all around us, and eventual victory seeming likely to go to those with the best weapons. But in this poem, it’s abundantly clear from the very first line and its strong disapproving tone that this Sumerian poet/priestess does not approve of warfare, or war gods, and all their barbaric acts of destruction:

“You hack down everything you see, War God!”

Then she goes on to describe the scene, the violence raging like a tempest, as the pawns of those in power “rush to destroy the land”. Not only does Enheduanna describe the destruction, but she directly names the very source that motivates it all:

“Spirit of hatred, greed and vengeance!
Dominatrix of heaven and earth!
Your ferocious fire consumes our land”

and how powerless right-minded people, endeavouring to enact “holy rites and prayers” feel in the light of all this violent, senseless tyranny.

Finally, she concludes her poem by asking, with Zen-like calm, what any passionate anti-war protestor, confronting the very same atrocities and horrors in Gaza and Ukraine would ask today:

“Who can explain your tirade,
why you go on so?”

What a truly remarkable poem this is! How timeless and relevant Enheduanna's words are! And how little has changed in over 4,200 years, when it comes to those who willingly serve the dark gods of warfare, who are still with us today!

Enhedaunna was the High Priestess of the goddess Ianna and the moon god Nanna. She lived in the Sumerian city-state of Ur (modern day Iraq) over 4,200 years ago, and is the earliest known poet ever recorded.

Originally published in The New Stylus.

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