IN MEMORY OF CENTURION
GAIUS LUCIUS MANIUS
PRIMUS PILUS FIRST COHORT
LEGIO VI VICTRIX
HE SPENT HIS PENSION
IN CISALPINE GAUL
WHERE HE RAN
AN HONEST BROTHEL
HIS FUNERAL WAS GRACED
BY A MURDER OF CROWS
AND GRIEVIOUS LAMENTATIONS
IN THE NAME OF FAIR ISHTAR
DAUGHTER OF SIN AND SHAMASH
Categories:
ishtar, allegory, death, history, morning,
Form: Elegy
No beautiful face on sale; Bazar is out of order
Fairyland - O dear goddess Ishtar! - is out of order.
I was alone at home, we'd to spend the noon together
Now, she rings aft' afternoon: my car is out of order!
Life is not that simple that few words on paper decide:
Words are limited - leading quasar is out of order!
"My speech is not contrary to public benefit - think..."
In Parliament, members' seminar is out of order.
"We can't measure depth of sea, sorry captain! we're stranded-
Sea breeze is against our ship route, sonar is out of order."
We may attack own cities at this impatient moment;
Enemy jets are coming, radar is out of order.
April 01, 2022
Categories:
ishtar, adventure, creation, future, history,
Form: Ghazal
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.
Categories:
ishtar, culture, fire, god, history,
Form: Sonnet
As evening approached,
its heights dressed in a garment of black.
Ishtar, shining playfully next to the rising moon,
penetrated my mind with thoughts.
Squandering away our gift of life
Caught up in the madness and mundane
Our soul’s strength remains unabated
The veil lifting between pleasure and pain
Though in our earthly state we are confused
Avoiding thorns on the paths we choose
By keeping our eyes on the ground below
We pay the price for the views we lose
Raise your eternal eyes to the skies above
Make darkness your home, your fearless home
Ethereal, elusive you shall be
while through stars and moon your soul will roam
Categories:
ishtar, inspirational,
Form: Rhyme
A rising on Valentines
Resur – e – rection
Four AM Valentines morn, I awoke,
stiff as a board – stands a mighty oak,
reaching up to heavenly skies – empty –
whishing upon a star that would not be
a heavenly body for me – that pink cloud,
sweet, delicious – ecstasy wrapped in a shroud.
A surprise !, standing against the ravages of time,
- for a long, long time – this gift with no place to go
for deep down – in my heart – I have come to know,
that upon this tree, you have no desire to climb
nor upon this mighty oak come and take a rest
and maybe find, that doing so, could be the best
wood, the wood that greeted me, will never greet you,
will never be a pillar you wish to climb upon.
To pulp – my wood, this mighty oak – becomes, gone.
What does an old man find ?, - when realizing so few
moments arise that he might sing a glorious song
to the goddesses “ Isis ”, “ Ishtar ” – not a clue.
B. J. “A ” 2
February 15th 2007
Categories:
ishtar, passion,
Form: Rhyme
Are you the Aphrodite of the Greek tales
Or the Artemis who admirers drooling sent?
No, for Aphrodite had her little flaws
And Artemis the fortunes of Orion bent.
Nor are you the stunning star that the Magi led.
For the over-told story of the Magi is as old as dirt
But your drowsy rounded eyes look so cunning fresh;
The kind of tools that the will men pervert.
The famous Ishtar cannot be your match
For she lured with looks in order to kill;
And Inanna may have tried to rival you a bit
Had she not given in to Dumuzi’s antique skill.
And tired of prating about deities, I now must say I love you.
I know that time is so much gone, and so is my chance;
The remote luck I thought I stood some years gone
Must now be as extinct as the Pyrenean Ibex of ancient France.
Nosy bird says you vowed holy nuptials yesteryear,
Iron twines that a luck-loving man must never sever.
Yet can I ever lose you without losing all breath,too?
Do I toy with the time-oiled vice that damns forever?
Categories:
ishtar, love,
Form: Verse
The ancient hieroglyphics, carvings in the stones
Monuments of idol, tombs to house the bones
Navel of the world, ley across the lands
Pyramids on parallel, built upon the sands
Fiery winged serpents, descending from the sky
To bring the gift of knowledge, hid within the Eye
Of Horus, son of Isis-Sirius the star
Isis known through gnosis, Babylon, Ishtar
Incest wife and sister, to dead and risen god
Osiris, Orion, Babylon, Nimrod
These drink the blood of prophets and eat the flesh of kings
They counterfeit the Trinity and teach unholy things
Categories:
ishtar, mystery, sin,
Form: Rhyme
For Palmyra in her eternal home
Your feminist smell,
Your purple dress,
And all what engaged of history,
Transients with psalms war..
Brobos and Oorljnos
And the night that saturate wine from
White pearls of your lips.
And to Palmyra in her flares,
Planets vocals,
Rumble bees into vintage Zajos,
Dunked bread into holy Ishtar oil,
And your galloping voice ..
Above the domes of Rome with
Thousand and thousands of star
Chanted when your glamorous eyes
Tracing like Lioness the door of the den.
Calling in her uniqueness
I am Zaba:
If i raised the sword,
I shook the hearts like a storms,
And burned the kings wheat.
Categories:
ishtar, history,
Form: Free verse
Candle of Ishtar glints their eyes to taste
where fireplace burns hushed tones, a smoky glide
and dew anoints waxed mouths, sighs collide,
like unspoken quakes, uttered not in haste.
Lay bare night’s scent, unrelenting, unchaste
peeled garment floats on a lounge of mantle;
there, burst of seeds lodge in her ovule’s well
replayed, released, on nipples’ buds down waist.
Releasing logic, their notes pour as flame
on creamy skin, through dusk-time ever bold
and fingers crawl north to east without shame.
Lovers entwining as one in rush of heat
till tresses billow like moist sleet, to exclaim
of Ishtar’s ripe tunes; groans of moonlit suite.
~ Petrarchan Sonnet rhymed abbaabba,
followed by a 6-line ‘sestet’in cdcdcd
~Charlotte's Scorchers
11/25/2013
Categories:
ishtar, desire, love,
Form: Sonnet
Venus
I Walk without realizing what is happening around me
And yet, I feel your presence
I look at the orange sky and find you
As if watching me, you follow me everywhere
I feel like a ghost floating around
Imperceptible to the senses, incapable to change what is to come
You are the evening Star that lights my existence and fills my soul with hope
Why don't I understand what is happening in the heart of the world?
I close my eyes for a moment and try to imagine another place
imagining myself gliding through your volcanic plains,
climbing Sif Mons with my unshaken will
and dipping into your rivers of lava
And I whisper to you
Oh Evening Star Goddess of the sulfuric clouds
Ishtar of the east, war and love
Why do I feel apart from this world?
Feels like a dream of joy and sorrow
And in this dream I always know what to say or what to feel
But you do not let me lose myself in these dreams
Which only increases my longing for you my Aphrodite
I know that there is a sense in all that escapes my understanding.
My Evening Star, brightest of all
of illusory ashen light that carries my thoughts to the heights
Wake me
And take me back to where I belong
Categories:
ishtar,
Form: Free verse
From the depth
of your
anguish, you
wished
me into existence. Like
Athena, I
came
to the world
fully
grown and armed, so to
disguise
you in a cloudy
mist and allow
nobody
to hinder your
progress.
I was
born seeking
your eyes, guided by
memories
of the future to be and
endowed with
a voice so powerful it would
move
even my enemies to weep
for me. Like
Orpheus, I
mourned
your loss resolving
to find and bring
you back, never
doubting you
were behind
me never
turning to check, in fear
of loosing you
forever.
And I banged on
the Gates of Hell imprisoning
you, threatening
my revenge till the door
opened for me to enter. Like
Ishtar, I
descended
in the frightening
Underworld, stripping off
my garments, adornments
and defenses, one
by one, just
to find myself
naked
before you.
Looking into your
troubled
soul, I realized I
could not
win you
back to Life unless
I accepted
to live and die
through the pain of my
existence and make
myself anew. Like
Chiron, I
gave up
my immortal serenity
to lift your everlasting
burden and share
it with you.
Categories:
ishtar, allegory, love, visionary, myth,
Form: Free verse