Read Gilgamesh : A New Rendering in English Verse for Free Online

Heavens;
    the great udders of the mountain hang down into
    the shadows of the Cavern of the Earth.
    Twin Dragon Scorpion Beings whose look is death
    are the guardians of the entrance into the mountain.
    The aura of the demon guardian Beings
    shimmers across the surface of the mountain.
    The shimmering of the light is death to look at.
    The Male Twin Monster Being said to the Female:
    â€œWho is it dares come here must be a god.”
    The Female Twin Monster Being said to her husband:
    â€œTwo-thirds a god. The third part is mortal.”
    Terror in the body of Gilgamesh
    seized hold of him from within and held him there
    in terror. But then, in terror, he went forward.
    Then the Male Dragon Being said to him:
    â€œWho is it dares come here? Why have you journeyed
    through fearful wilderness making your way through dangers
    to come to this mountain no mortal has ever come to?”
    Gilgamesh answered, his body seized in terror:
    â€œI come to seek the father, Utnapishtim,
    who was admitted to the company
    of gods, who granted him eternal life.
    I come to seek the answer to the question
    that I must ask concerning life and death.”
    The Scorpion Monster Being said to him:
    â€œNo mortal has ever journeyed through the mountain.
    This is the path of the sun’s journey by night.
    Lightless the sun utterly lightless goes
    from the setting to the rising through the mountain.
    This is the path of the sun, utterly dark,
    twelve leagues of darkness through, utterly lightless.
    No mortal would ever be able to go this way.”
    Gilgamesh said, his body seized in terror:
    â€œThis is the way that Gilgamesh must go,
    weeping and fearful, struggling to keep breathing,
    whether in heat or cold, companionless.
    Open the gate to the entrance into the mountain.”
    Monster Husband and Wife murmured together.
    Then the Male Twin Monster said to Gilgamesh:
    â€œThe gate to the entrance into the mountain is open.
    May Gilgamesh in safety make the journey.”
    After the Scorpion Dragon Being spoke,
    Gilgamesh went to the entrance into the mountain
    and entered the darkness alone, without a companion.
    By the time he reached the end of the first league
    the darkness was total, nothing behind or before.
    He made his way, companionless, to the end
    of the second league. Utterly lightless, black.
    There was nothing behind or before, nothing at all.
    Only, the blackness pressed in upon his body.
    He felt his blind way through the mountain tunnel,
    struggling for breath, through the third league, alone,
    and companionless through the fourth, making his way,
    and struggling for every breath, to the end of the fifth,
    in the absolute dark, nothing behind or before,
    the weight of the blackness pressing in upon him.
    Weeping and fearful he journeyed a sixth league,
    and, blind, to the end of the seventh league, alone,
    without a companion, seeing nothing at all,
    weeping and fearful, struggling to keep breathing.
    At the end of the eighth league he cried aloud
    and tried to cry out something against the pressure
    of blackness: “Two people, who are companions, they…!”
    There was nothing behind or before him in the darkness;
    utterly lightless, the way of the sun’s night journey.
    He struggled to breathe, trying to breathe the darkness.
    He was weeping and fearful, alone, without a companion.
    Just then, at the end of the ninth league, just once
    the rough tongue of the North Wind licked at his face.
    It was like the tongue of a wild bull or a lion.
    He struggled on through darkness, trying to breathe.
    The darkness pressed in upon him, both nothing and something.
    After he struggled, blind, his companionless way
    through eleven leagues of the darkness, nothing at all
    and something, ahead of him, a league ahead
    a little light, a grayness, began to show.
    Weeping and fearful, struggling to keep breathing,
    he made his way through the last league of the journey,
    twelve leagues in the darkness, alone,