91334168

Iraq has known war for thousands of years. This account is from Sin-leqe-unnini
, the Mesopotamian story of Gilgamesh, one of the legendary kings of Uruk who lived between 2800 and 2500 BCE.

[Why (?)] have you exerted yourself? What have you achieved (?)?

You have made yourself weary for lack of sleep,

You only fill your flesh with grief,

You only bring the distant days (of reckoning) closer.

Mankind’s fame is cut down like reeds in a reed-bed.

A fine young man, a fine girl,

[                          ] of Death.

Nobody sees Death,

Nobody sees the face of Death,

Nobody hears the voice of Death.

Savage Death just cuts mankind down.

Sometimes we build a house, sometimes we make a nest,

But then brothers divide it upon inheritance.

Sometimes there is hostility in [the land],

But then the river rises and brings flood-water.

Dragonflies drift on the river,

Their faces look upon the face of the Sun,

(But then) suddenly there is nothing.

Courtesy of humanistictexts.org and translated by Stephanie Dalley.