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larryhammerFor Poetry Monday, dipping back a few millenia:
A love song of Shu-Sin, Unknown
Man of my heart, my beloved man, your allure is a sweet thing, as sweet as honey. Lad of my heart, my beloved man, your allure is a sweet thing, as sweet as honey.
You have captivated me (?), of my own free will I will come to you. Man, let me flee with you — into the bedroom. You have captivated me (?); of my own free will I shall come to you. Lad, let me flee with you — into the bedroom.
Man, let me do the sweetest things to you. My precious sweet, let me bring you honey. In the bedchamber dripping with honey let us enjoy over and over your allure, the sweet thing. Lad, let me do the sweetest things to you. My precious sweet, let me bring you honey.
Man, you have become attracted to me. Speak to my mother and I will give myself to you; speak to my father and he will make a gift of me. I know where to give physical pleasure to your body — sleep, man, in our house till morning. I know how to bring heart’s delight to your heart — sleep, lad, in our house till morning.
Since you have fallen in love with me, lad, if only you would do your sweet thing to me.
My lord and god, my lord and guardian angel, my Cu-Suen who cheers Enlil’s heart, if only you would handle your sweet place, if only you would grasp your place that is sweet as honey.
Put your hand there for me like the cover (?) on a measuring cup. Spread (?) your hand there for me like the cover (?) on a cup of wood shavings.
Original text:
_%E2%80%93_Istanbul_2461.jpg/400px-A_Love_Song_of_Shu-Sin_(Shu-Suen_B)_%E2%80%93_Istanbul_2461.jpg)
Thanks, WikiMedia!
Hat tip. One of the world’s oldest surviving lyric poems, written presumably during the reign of Shu-Sin / Šu-Suen, king of Sumer and Akkad from circa* 2037-2028 BCE. The tablet identifies the speaker as Inana, and it’s generally read as relating to the sacred marriage of the fertility goddess** and the land’s king. That said, it reads to me as a straight-up (i.e. non-ritual) erotic poem — a smoking hot one.*** The translation from Sumerian is a composite created by Graham Cunningham from ones by Krecher & Jagersma and Sefati (source, credits).
* While relative times in Middle Bronze Age Mesopotamia are relatively solid, absolute timestamps have error bars of ±60 years. For context, he ruled two and a half centuries after the death of Sargon of Akkad, the father of Enheduanna.
** Possibly, though this is highly debated, embodied as her high priestess. Not debated: she almost certainly didn’t wear little red panties.
*** I hope those wood shavings (?) don’t catch on fire.
---L.
Subject quote from Semi-Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind.
A love song of Shu-Sin, Unknown
Man of my heart, my beloved man, your allure is a sweet thing, as sweet as honey. Lad of my heart, my beloved man, your allure is a sweet thing, as sweet as honey.
You have captivated me (?), of my own free will I will come to you. Man, let me flee with you — into the bedroom. You have captivated me (?); of my own free will I shall come to you. Lad, let me flee with you — into the bedroom.
Man, let me do the sweetest things to you. My precious sweet, let me bring you honey. In the bedchamber dripping with honey let us enjoy over and over your allure, the sweet thing. Lad, let me do the sweetest things to you. My precious sweet, let me bring you honey.
Man, you have become attracted to me. Speak to my mother and I will give myself to you; speak to my father and he will make a gift of me. I know where to give physical pleasure to your body — sleep, man, in our house till morning. I know how to bring heart’s delight to your heart — sleep, lad, in our house till morning.
Since you have fallen in love with me, lad, if only you would do your sweet thing to me.
My lord and god, my lord and guardian angel, my Cu-Suen who cheers Enlil’s heart, if only you would handle your sweet place, if only you would grasp your place that is sweet as honey.
Put your hand there for me like the cover (?) on a measuring cup. Spread (?) your hand there for me like the cover (?) on a cup of wood shavings.
Original text:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
_%E2%80%93_Istanbul_2461.jpg){kind=link}
Hat tip. One of the world’s oldest surviving lyric poems, written presumably during the reign of Shu-Sin / Šu-Suen, king of Sumer and Akkad from circa* 2037-2028 BCE. The tablet identifies the speaker as Inana, and it’s generally read as relating to the sacred marriage of the fertility goddess** and the land’s king. That said, it reads to me as a straight-up (i.e. non-ritual) erotic poem — a smoking hot one.*** The translation from Sumerian is a composite created by Graham Cunningham from ones by Krecher & Jagersma and Sefati (source, credits).
* While relative times in Middle Bronze Age Mesopotamia are relatively solid, absolute timestamps have error bars of ±60 years. For context, he ruled two and a half centuries after the death of Sargon of Akkad, the father of Enheduanna.
** Possibly, though this is highly debated, embodied as her high priestess. Not debated: she almost certainly didn’t wear little red panties.
*** I hope those wood shavings (?) don’t catch on fire.
---L.
Subject quote from Semi-Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind.
no subject
Date: 30 March 2026 03:57 pm (UTC)I know translation is a work of its time as well as its origins, but it is a joy to me how much of this poem uses a language totally recognizable by contemporary sexual song.
(This is the other one besides the Klezmatics it put me in mind of.)
no subject
Date: 30 March 2026 05:40 pm (UTC)Yes, that. It goes in the pile of evidence that people have always been people, alongside the tablet from a merchant of Ur writing to his son "no I won't send you more money, kids these days don't believe in hard work" and the Ea-nāṣir complaint letters.
no subject
Date: 30 March 2026 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 30 March 2026 10:31 pm (UTC)And the alternate transliteration, Su-Suen, has the same issue, too.
no subject
Date: 31 March 2026 12:39 am (UTC)What the hell is that, for people who don't believe in the letter shin?
no subject
Date: 31 March 2026 03:44 am (UTC)Apparently.
no subject
Date: 31 March 2026 03:54 am (UTC)I went to see if Wikipedia had the cuneiform and (a) yes (b) it got worse. I can't even blame German for that. It really is like Akkadian by British Sinologists. From the nineteenth century.
(I am desperately avoiding researching the history of transcription and transliteration of Akkadian because I need to pass out.)
no subject
Date: 31 March 2026 04:00 am (UTC)Oy. I totally missed the passage of Szu-Sins. :shudders: