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Carved in stone (sonnet to Ishtar)

Hail beauty, still as death, in smooth stone hewn,
The Great Earth's Queen in regal posture stands,
Who in the underworld sings out her tune
Of justice, law and power o'er her lands.
The land of Kur, the realm of all the dead
Is her domain. With eagle wings and claws
And serpent hair entwined about her head,
Athene's owls are there to give just cause.  
She rules supreme, in nakedness and pride 
On lions' backs her feet grip with sharp hold, 
Four thousand years an image petrified
Her regal glare still dreadful to behold. 
 	Carved in stone, as Queen of night she reigns
	O'er gardens of the fertile crescent's plains.

									

 I was inspired to write this poem after visiting the 'I am Azurbanipal' exhibition in the British Museum. One of the exhibits, a stone relief of  the goddess Ishtar, the deity associated in Mesopotamian mythology with love, sex, death and war, displayed carving of startling clarity and beauty even though it was made around 4000 years ago in ancient Babylon.

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