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A love song of Išme-Dagan (Išme-Dagan J)

Sumerian literature (ETCSL) · 2 - Royal praise poetry and compositions with a historical background · 26 sections

1. 1

   ab2 gu3 dug3-ga amar gu3 su3-⌈?⌉

   Lady, going to the sweet-voiced cows and gentle-voiced calves in the cattle-pen, young woman, when you arrive there, Inana, may the churn sound! May the churn of your spouse sound, Inana, may the churn sound! May the churn of Dumuzid sound, Inana, may the churn sound!

2. 2

   in-nin9-e tur3-e ĝen-na-e

3. 3

   {lu2}ki-sikil ud !-du-u3-nam

4. 4

   {d}inana {dug}šakir3-e gu3 ḫe2-em-me

5. 5

   {dug}šakir3 nitalam3-zu-ke4 gu3 ḫe2-em-me

6. 6

   {d}inana <{dug}šakir3-e gu3 ḫe2-em-me>

7. 7

   {dug}šakir3 {d}<dumu-zid-da-ke4> <gu3 ḫe2-em-me>

8. 8

   {d}inana <{dug}šakir3-e gu3 ḫe2-em-me>

9. 9

   dun5-dun5 {dug}šakir3-ra !-mu-ra-ab-KU

   The rocking of the churn will sing (?) for you, Inana, may it thus make you joyous! The good shepherd, the man of sweet songs, will loudly (?) sing songs for you; lady, with all the sweetest things, Inana, may he make your heart joyous!

10. 10

    {d}inana ur5-re ḫe2-mu-e-ḫul2-e

11. 11

    sipad zid lu2 i-lu dug3-ga-ke4

12. 12

    mur ša4 i-lu ša-ra-an-ib-be2

13. 13

    in-nin niĝ2-nam-ma niĝ2 ku7-ku7-da

14. 14

    {d}inana šag4-⌈zu⌉ ḫe2-mu-e-ḫul2-le

15. 15

    in-nin tur3-ra kur9-ra-zu-ne

    Lady, when you enter the cattle-pen, Inana, the cattle-pen will indeed rejoice over you. Mistress, when you enter the sheepfold, Inana, the sheepfold will indeed rejoice over you. When you enter the feeding-pen, healthy ewes will spread out their wool for you.

16. 16

    {d}inana tur3 ša-mu-u8-<mu>-da-ḫul2-le

17. 17

    nu-u8-gig amaš-a kur9-ra-zu-ne

18. 18

    {d}inana amaš ša-mu-u8-da-ḫul2-le

19. 19

    e2-bu-ra-ka kur9-ra-zu-ne

20. 20

    siki u8 zid-de3 šu-mu-ba-ra-ge-nam

21. 21

    amaš kug-ge i3 ki ḫa-ra-ab-daĝal-e

    May the holy sheepfold abundantly provide (?) you with butter, may the cattle-pen produce butter and cream for you! May abundance endure in the sheepfold, may the days of Išme-Dagan be numerous!

22. 22

    {e2}tur3-e i3 gara2 <ḫu>-mu-ra-ab-tum3

23. 23

    amaš-e giri17-zal-la ḫe2-sud4

24. 24

    {d}iš-me-{d}da-gan ud-da-ni <ḫe2>-su13-ud

25. 25

    u8-e sila4-bi mi2 zid di-de3

    May my spouse, a ewe cherishing its lamb, be praised with sweet admiration!

26. 26

    nitalam-ĝu10 u6 dug3-ge-eš ḫe2-i-i

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. Copyright holders: Jeremy Black, Graham Cunningham, Jarle Ebeling, Esther Flückiger-Hawker, Eleanor Robson, Jon Taylor and Gábor Zólyomi. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. Source.