A Sumerian Myth (I.P.)

By luigi_pagano

Sun, 16 Mar 2014
  • 787 reads
4 comments
 

Two siblings imbibed
and emptied a wine barrel;
they got thoroughly drunk
and then began to quarrel.

The gods created them
and gave them both a gift.
This was the reason why
it brought about the rift.

Lahar, the cattle-god
insisted, but in vain,
that he was superior
to Ashnan, goddess of grain.

To avoid bitter enmity
and feelings of ill will
it required the intervention
of Enki and of Enlil.

Theirs was a judgement   
that no one could dispute
being supreme deities
of impeccable repute.

They said that the twins
should stand together
but of the two, the Grain
ought to be the greater.

So from that day on
it was the mighty corn
that abounded in the land
on which Babylon was born.

© Luigi Pagano 2014

Certificate U
Poem
Historical Fiction
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

… for cattle need grain! You enjoy getting a story in compact rhyme. It reminds me of my starting playing around with crisp memorable verse as a help to trying to remember history dates when revising, aged about 12, and then realisng it was useful with my children years later. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Exactly. The cattle need the grain and therefore the latter is more important, that's the inference. The Inspiration Point led me in the direction of this myth. There is only a certain amount of narrative that can be included in a poem and, by necessity, it has to be compact. Your 'playing around with crisp memorable verse' at the age of 12 is to be commended, Rhiannon; I don't know a lot of children of that age who can reasonably tackle poetry.

Best wishes, Luigi

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

actually Luigi, I think it was very much doggerel at that time, just helping me remember dates, but it started up the idea of playing around  to get things remembered in this way! Thanks! Rh

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

smiley