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

companionless,
    weeping and fearful, struggling to keep breathing,
    he made his way and finally struggled out free
    into the morning air and the morning sunlight.
    iv
    He emerged from the mountain into a wonderful garden.
    Gilgamesh looked at the garden and wondered at it.
    The fruit and foliage of the trees were all
    the colors of the jewels of the world,
    carnelian and lapis lazuli,
    jasper, rubies, agate, and hematite,
    emerald, and all the other gems the earth
    has yielded for the delight and pleasure of kings.
    And beyond the garden Gilgamesh saw the sea.

TABLET X
    i
    Veiled Siduri, a tavern keeper, keeps
    a tavern on the shore of the glittering sea.
    They have given a golden mixing bowl to her
    and an ale flagon. She gazed along the shore;
    she gazed and gazed and saw that there was coming
    along the shore a hairy-bodied man,
    a wanderer, who was wearing an animal skin,
    coming toward her tavern along the shore.
    It was Gilgamesh approaching, two-thirds a god,
    but one-third mortal and grieving in his heart.
    He looked like one who has undergone a journey,
    his face bitten by hunger or by sorrow.
    â€œWho is this man,” she said to herself, “who is it,
    hairy-bodied, wearing the skin of a beast,
    coming toward my tavern along the shore,
    looking like one who has undergone a journey,
    his face bitten by hunger or by sorrow?”
    She was afraid, and shut the door to her tavern,
    and slid the door bolt to, and locked the door.
    Gilgamesh heard the sound of the door shutting
    and heard the sound of the door bolt sliding to.
    He called to the tavern keeper: “Tavern keeper,
    why have you shut the door against me so?
    If you do not let me in I will break the lock
    and break the door that shuts me out of the tavern.
    It is I who killed the lions in the passes.
    It is Gilgamesh, who killed the demon guardian,
    Huwawa the guardian of the Cedar Forest.
    It is I, who wrestled the Bull of Heaven and killed him.
    My fame will be secure to all my sons.”
    Siduri spoke to Gilgamesh and said:
    â€œIf you are Gilgamesh who killed the demon,
    and if you killed the lions in the passes,
    and if it is you who wrestled the Bull and killed him,
    why do you look like one who has undergone
    a terrible journey, why do you look like one
    who grieves, why do you wear the skin of a beast,
    why is it that you roam the wilderness?”
    Gilgamesh spoke to the tavern keeper and said:
    â€œI look like one who has undergone a journey,
    like one whose grief lives in his heart, and I wander
    the wilderness wearing the skin of a beast because
    I grieve for the death of Enkidu the companion,
    he who has fought with lions and with wolves.
    Together we made the journey across the mountains
    through the dangerous passes to the Cedar Forest;
    he found the secret places where there was water;
    together we slew Huwawa the guardian demon;
    we fought the Bull of Heaven together and killed him.
    Enkidu, the companion, whom I loved,
    who went together with me on the journey
    no one has ever undergone before,
    now Enkidu has undergone the fate
    the high gods have established for mankind.
    Seven days and nights I sat beside the body,
    weeping for Enkidu beside the body,
    and then I saw a worm fall out of his nose.
    Must I die too? Must Gilgamesh be like that?
    It was then I felt the fear of it in my belly.
    I roam the wilderness because of the fear.
    Enkidu, the companion, whom I loved,
    is dirt, nothing but clay is Enkidu.
    Weeping as if I were a woman I roam
    the paths and shores of unknown places saying:
    â€˜Must I die too? Must Gilgamesh be like that?’”
    Then veiled Siduri replied to Gilgamesh:
    â€œWho is the mortal who can live forever?
    The life of man is short. Only the gods
    can live forever. Therefore put on new clothes,
    a clean robe and a cloak tied with a sash,
    and wash the filth of the journey from your body.
    Eat and drink your fill of the food and drink
    men eat and drink. Let there be pleasure and