SECRETS OF THE GRAVE

"That quivering was the flapping of wings which is the prelude of flight ...
I know that a resurrection isn't possible and wasn't then, but I won't allow the order of the world not to be disturbed for my sake!"

[...]

Death is an evil.
That’s what the gods think.
Or they would die.

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At his noises Gilgamesh was roused ... Like a dove he moaned ...
"May he not be held, in death ...
O preeminent among men ..."
To his friend ...
"I will mourn him (?) I at his side ..."

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...I (?) who went through every difficulty,
remember me and forget(?) not all that I went through with you.

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“Beat your breasts, young maidens.
And tear your garments
in grief.”

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But his eyes do not move,
he touched his heart, but it beat no longer. He covered his friend's face like a bride, swooping down over him like an eagle,
and like a lioness deprived of her cubs
he keeps pacing to and fro.
He shears off his curls and heaps them onto the ground, ripping off his finery and casting it away as an abomination.

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and what is the privilege of the dead?
to drink the morbid wine

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And I answered: “Farewell, go and remember me.
You know how we cared for you.

If not, I would remind you
...of our wonderful times."

[...]

Just as day began to dawn, Gilgamesh ...
and issued a call to the land:
"You, blacksmith! You, lapidary! You, coppersmith! You, goldsmith! You, jeweler!
Create 'My Friend,' fashion a statue of him.
... he fashioned a statue of his friend.
His features ...
...,your chest will be of lapis lazuli, your skin will be of gold."

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"A soul is in purgatory and I am offering it my body.
[...]
Through my eyes she will see the stars, the scarves of women and their breasts."

And there was no dance,
no holy place
from which we were absent.”

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