till wildest passions warm
The blood and fire the eye beneath her charm;
All hearts in heaven and earth she doth disarm.
The Queen with every perfect charm displayed
Delights the eye, and fills the heart, dismayed
With fear, lest the bright phantom may dissolve
To airy nothingness, till fierce resolve
Fills each who her beholds, while love doth dart
From liquid eyes and captivates the heart.
She is the queen who fills the earth with love
And reigns unrivalled in her realms above.

Beware, ye hearts! beware! who feel the snare
Of Ishtar, lest ye tread upon the air;
When ye her rosy chain of fragrance wear,
When blindness strikes the eye, and deaf the ear
Becomes, and heartstrings only lead you then,
Till ye return to common sense again;
Enthralled mayhap and captive led in chains,
Ye then will leisure have to bear your pains;
Or if perchance a joy hath come to thee,
Through all thy joyous life, then happy be!

[Footnote 1: "Sik-ka-ti," narrow mountain gorges.]

[Footnote 2: "Khar-sak," the Deluge mountain, where the ark rested.]

[Footnote 3: "Se-du," a spirit of the earth, and rivers.]

[Footnote 4: "Zir-ri," the spirits of the rivers, water-nymphs.]

[Footnote 5: "Hea," the god of the ocean.]

[Footnote 6: "Zi-na-ki," pronounced "zee-na-kee," spirits of purity.]

[Footnote 7: "Zi-si," corn-gods, or spirits of the corn.]

[Footnote 8: "Sam-kha-tu," one of the maids of Ishtar, "Joy."]

[Footnote 9: "Kha-rima-tu," one of the maids of Ishtar, "Seduction."]

[Footnote 10: "Its-tu-ri Same mut-tab ri," "the winged birds of heaven."]

[Footnote 11: "Khar-san-u," forest.]

COLUMN VI

IZDUBAR FALLS IN LOVE WITH ISHTAR, THE QUEEN OF LOVE

The hour has come when Izdubar will seek
The cool enchantment of the cove, and slake
His thirst with its sweet waters bubbling pure,
Where Love has spread for him her sweetest lure,
The maids expectant listening, watch and wait
His coming; oft in ecstacies they prate
O'er his surprise, and softly sport and splash
The limpid waves around, that glowing flash
Like heaps of snowy pearls lung to the light
By Hea's[1] hands, his Zir-ri[2] to delight.
And now upon the rock each maid reclines,
While Ishtar's form beneath them brightly shines;
Beside the fountain stands the lovely god,
The graceful sovereign of Love's sweet abode.

"He comes; the shrubs of yonder jasmine near
Are rustling, oh, he comes! my Izdubar!"
And thus her love she greets: "Why art thou here?
Tho