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Today’s Poem: The Love Song of Shu-Sin (written c.2000 BCE) [1]

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Date: 2023-09-04  

he history of the discovery of the Love Song of Shu-Sin may be worth a poem all in itself. The article in the World History Encyclopedia ( https://www.worldhistory.org/article/750/the-worlds-oldest-love-poem/ ) gives a brief and easily understandable history of its discovery and its significance. Below is the English translation of the poem in 1951 CE by the famous Sumerologist Samuel Noah Kramer. The poem was not just a love poem, however, but a part of the sacred rite, performed each year, known as the “sacred marriage” in which the king would symbolically marry the goddess Inanna, mate with her, and ensure fertility and prosperity for the coming year. As Kramer described it:

“Once a year, according to Sumerian belief, it was the sacred duty of the ruler to marry a priestess and votary of Inanna, the goddess of love and procreation, in order to ensure fertility to the soil and fecundity to the womb. The time-honored ceremony was celebrated on New Year’s day and was preceded by feasts and banquets accompanied by music, song, and dance. The poem inscribed on the little Istanbul clay tablet was in all probability recited by the chosen bride of King Shu-Sin in the course of one of these New Year celebrations. (245-246)”

The Love Song of Shu-Sin

Bridegroom, dear to my heart,

Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet,

Lion, dear to my heart,

Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.

You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you.

Bridegroom, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber,

You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you.

Lion, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber.

Bridegroom, let me caress you,

My precious caress is more savory than honey,

In the bedchamber, honey-filled,

Let me enjoy your goodly beauty,

Lion, let me caress you,

My precious caress is more savory than honey.

Bridegroom, you have taken your pleasure of me,

Tell my mother, she will give you delicacies,

My father, he will give you gifts.

Your spirit, I know where to cheer your spirit,

Bridegroom, sleep in our house until dawn,

Your heart, I know where to gladden your heart,

Lion, sleep in our house until dawn.

You, because you love me,

Give me pray of your caresses,

My lord god, my lord protector,

My Shu-Sin, who gladdens Enlil’s heart,

Give my pray of your caresses.

Your place goodly as honey, pray lay your hand on it,

Bring your hand over like a gishban-garment,

Cup your hand over it like a gishban-sikin-garment

It is a balbale-song of Inanna.

The Love Song of Shu-Sin is from Samuel Noah Kramer’s work History Begins at Sumer, p.p. 246-247

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/4/2191480/--Today-s-Poem-The-Love-Song-of-Shu-Sin-written-c-2000-BCE

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