The world was young when man created God
When man created God the world was new
And filled with things by which all minds were awed
Twas awe which filled all minds, and awe which grew
It grew until eternity was filled
A paradox of awe beyond the minds
The minds of man from which all reason spilled
The type of reason every poet finds
The poets who compose the Word of God
The Word of God, a paradox of awe
Perfection of eternity is flawed
And yes they find perfection in its flaw
Perfection's flaw, forever God and man
The poets know ‘tis not some cosmic plan.
--
Antithesis is not a word you hear
In any tale of how it all began
The opposite of what is crystal clear
Exists where deepest darkness seeks to span
To span the thoughts opposed to all sublime
Antithesis appears where poets start
A simple couplet knows it needs to rhyme
To find a place in lyric poets’ art
A simple lyric poet is a myth
Simplicity is not a path to tread
Each iamb that appears to man forthwith
Should be expressed and not just simply read
Aloud the poets share the sounds of art
Which comes from deep within each beating heart.
--
Enkidu placed his hand upon his breast
He knew that he had found a pulse to touch
And deep beneath his warm and hairy chest
His heart expressed his poetry as such
A hairy man, as wild as was found
In distant lands where stories weren’t yet born
He let his heart proclaim its joyful sound
And poetry would never be forlorn
It only needed somewhere to be shared
It needed someone else to feel it pulse
A friend who listened, yes a friend who cared
Whose heart would beat like his and not convulse
Convulsion like antithesis was wrong
They had no place within Enkidu’s song.
--
Enkidu sang a song of life and love
Its beat emerged from words inside his heart
Its beat was like the soaring of a dove
The little song became Enkidu’s art
A friend would feel his song like drops of rain
Like rain that kisses earth that’s parched and dry
His words were music friendship might attain
Like clouds of love that linger in the sky
Enkidu raised his head to sing aloud
He spoke his words; he sang his little song
The music flowed; it made Enkidu proud
He wondered if a friend might sing along
Enkidu felt the joy of every word
And in his little song, his joy was heard.
--
The song was heard by Gilgamesh, the king
For Gilgamesh was drawn to songs of love
And love is more than just a simple thing
A gift for man below from God above
True, Gilgamesh was more than just a man
His mother, Ninsun, more than just a God
She heard his dreams as only mother’s can
And showed him how his life was never flawed
She told him, listen for a friend that’s true
A friend that might seem coarse or rough to some
And Gilgamesh in dreams found what to do
He knew a friend eventually would come
That day Enkidu’s song came to his ear
And Gilgamesh heard friendship, loud and clear.
--
A song of friendship passed from friend to friend
Is like a river full of life for all
It seems as if it flows without an end
It seems as if it heeds a higher call
A song that calls to everyone that hears
Becomes a path to friendship all might trod
Enkidu and King Gilgamesh faced fears
Together they became both Man and God
And yes, it’s true that Thou Art God as well
And Thou Art Man with friendship’s gift of peace
The songs that you might sing or stories tell
Reveal that friendship’s true and will not cease
Like friends of past our stories plant the seed
And nourish every soul with word and deed.
--
Inanna, Queen of Heaven, gave a gift
To Gilgamesh, the king of mortal man
A drum and sticks to help his music lift
By beating them as only mortals can
King Gilgamesh made music with his friend
Until the gift was dropped, they fell below
King Gilgamesh knew where they would descend
To Netherworld, a place one should not go
Enkidu went to find his friend’s lost gift
And thus got trapped forever in the place
The Netherworld, where darkness doesn’t lift
Where Gilgamesh could never see his face
And yet their friendship never could be lost
Although they knew it bore a heavy cost.
--
The heavy cost of friendship must be paid
When separated from a friend that’s true
And though Enkidu knew he might have stayed
It wasn’t what his friendship said to do
King Gilgamesh was also in such debt
And so he sought Enkidu’s darkened shade
The soul that lives no more, but can’t forget
It can’t forget the friendship life had made
Enkidu’s shade told Gilgamesh the truth
Of Netherworld and why he shouldn’t come
King Gilgamesh believed his friend, forsooth
Although the things he learned were often glum
Beyond the life or death or flesh or shade
A friendship’s strength is where true friendship’s made.
