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

dancing.”
    But Gilgamesh replied to the tavern keeper:
    â€œTell me the way to find the only one
    of men by means of whom I might find out
    how death can be avoided. Tell me the way.
    What are the signs of the way to Utnapishtim?
    If I must cross the sea, I will cross the sea.
    If not, I will wander in unknown places, seeking.”
    The tavern keeper replied to Gilgamesh:
    â€œNot from the beginning of time has anyone ever
    been able to go across the glittering sea.
    Shamash alone, the Sun, crosses the sea.
    He is the only one. Nobody else.
    The waters are treacherous, crossing the waters is fearful,
    and far out in the waters, forbidding the way,
    there slide the other waters, the waters of death.
    Urshànabi the boatman dwells out there,
    on an island out there somewhere in the waters.
    What will you do if you get as far as his island?
    He guards the Stone Things and he searches out,
    there in the island forest, the Urnu-Snakes.
    What will you do if you get to his far-off island,
    far out in the treacherous waters? Let Urshànabi
    look at the face of Gilgamesh. Perhaps
    he will take you with him across the waters of death;
    if not, then Gilgamesh must abandon the crossing.”
    ii
    After he crossed the treacherous glittering waters
    as far as the island where Urshànabi was,
    Gilgamesh raised his ax and drew out his dagger
    and entered the island forest. He got to the place
    where the Stone Things were, and fell upon them and broke them.
    The boatman in the forest heard the noises
    of dagger and ax; there was confusion of battle.
    Gilgamesh fought a wingèd adversary
    that gloried over him in the confusion.
    Then Gilgamesh pinioned the wings of the adversary.
    He took the broken Stone Things and stowed them away,
    together in the boat with the Urnu-Snakes.
    iii
    Urshànabi the boatman said to him:
    â€œYour face is bitten by hunger or by sorrow.
    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?”
    And Gilgamesh replied then to the boatman:
    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;
    born in the wilderness, Enkidu made a shelter
    against the winds that blew across the mountains;
    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.
    I roam the wilderness because of the fear.
    Enkidu, the companion, whom I loved,
    is dirt, the companion Enkidu is clay.
    Must I die too? Must Gilgamesh be like that?”
    Gilgamesh spoke and said then to the boatman:
    â€œTell me the way to find the only one
    of men by means of whom I might find out
    how death can be avoided. Tell me the way.
    What are the signs of the way to Utnapishtim?
    If I must cross the waters of death, I will.
    If not, I will wander in unknown places, seeking.”
    Urshànabi replied to Gilgamesh:
    â€œWith your own hands you have made the crossing harder.
    You broke the talismans, you broke the Stone Things;
    you took the Urnu-Snakes, which is forbidden.
    Take up your ax, go back into the forest.
    Cut sixty poles and then cut sixty more,
    each pole of sixty cubits; fit them with rings
    to strengthen them for poling; find pitch
    to seal the wood against the waters of death.
    When you have finished, bring me back the poles.”
    So