Urshanabi leads Gilgamesh to the Deep Underworld. And so for nine hours Gilgamesh has to out run the sun.
And he does out run the sun, though how I do not know.
Continued
After nine exhausting hours with the sun hot on his heels Gilgamesh emerges from the underworld into the garden of the Gods.
The garden is a place that even, the mighty King of Uruk has never seen the like of. He was dazzled by trees and plants that have flowers and blossom of precious and semi precious stones and gems. It was quite amazing.
Then Gilgamesh is confronted by an ordinary man, Utanpishtim. The king of Uruk is surprised he was expecting a God that he would have to fight.
Weaponless Gilgamesh has to talk to Utanpishtim who asks him why he looks so tired and wan. Gilgamesh tells him how he has spent his last nine hours outrunning the sun. He also tells of the loss of his dear brother Enkidu and how he King of Girt – Walled – Uruk wants Immortality for himself and his people .
Utanpishtim says he has wasted his time venturing to these shores and all he has done is bring himself one day closer to death.
You can run but you cannot hide
Death reachs across the divide.
Immortals and men do not mix
All men die it’s written in stone, fixed.
Now Enlil had gathered the Gods together after the Flood and granted Utanpishtim and his wife Shiduri immortality. The question now arose who would grant this to Gilgamesh, what deeds would he do to gain his goal.
Utanpishtim set Gilgamesh the task that he must stay awake for seven days and nights with no sleep. The big ego that is Gilgamesh agreed to this blindly.
The task is set
Gilgamesh accepts and yet
In seconds he is asleep
Unable to his boastful words to keep.
He will lie says Utanpishtim
He is man as duplicitous as all his kin.
Shiduri will bake for everyday he sleeps a loaf.
He will lie, for all his mighty ways he’s just an oaf.
Shiduri bakes a loaf each day for the seven day and lays them infront of the sleeping Gilgamesh when the seventh day arrives Utanpishtim wakes Gilgamesh.
Of course he lies and tells Utanpishtim and Shiduri that he had not slept a wink.
He does not fool the wise couple who knew the outcome would always be a fail compounded by a lie. Shiduri shows Gilgamesh the seven loaves and gets him to feel the rock hard first and the soft warm last one.
Death around Gilgamesh creeps
Fear and failure into his soul seeps.
Lies from his mouth have made him fail
The useless the efforts of his travail
Will he be banished empty handed.
As a hopeless fool branded.
To be continued….
The story of Gilgamesh is one older than time and one that is repeated in all ancient and modern religious books and stories ..though the names and places change the stories do not.
Here is a clip from one of a trilogy of films called The Chronicles of Riddick. The characters in the clip have to outrun the sun, which waits for no man.
As I am nearing the end of my account of my feelings and experiences at The Silent Eye Spring Workshop I find I want to linger with the memories and stop time.
Copy rules and add to your own post, pinging back to this post.
Post music videos for your answers to the musical questions.
Tag two people to participate!
Easy!
1. Post a video of a musical commercial jingle.
Shake and Vac Advert from 1980s
2. Post a music video of a song that is geographical.
Barcelona By Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé.
3. Post a music video of a song from an animated Disney movie.
A whole new world . From Aladdin.
I challenge:
Anyone that wants to participate!! Let’s have a little bit of fun!
Lorraine is doing a great theme entitled Countdown to Halloween. Well she is asking for songs, and books to read for Halloween. Well I put on my thinking cap and dug deep into my archives and found some of my old Halloween poems and revamped them for the season! I have added some of my favourite spooky music as for reading material …….
Well hello everyone here is a little extra blog I just wanted to do!
You all know how much I love Imogen Heap , yes you know that is true!
So this is an out and out fan post, a post to show I really am impressed .
So this shows much her techniques of making music have progressed .
She started out with lots of machines, computer and keyboards, bells and recorders.Phew !
Also another one of Imogen on stage working hard before gloves!! Phew exhausting!
Then she started to develop her Me.Mi gloves , I picked this video because one it shows her lovely home and because it is not as long and technical as some of the talks she has done on the subject!
And finally so as not to bore everyone here she is performing with her gloves , the song me the machine is so beautiful .
Hello everyone Bear has allowed me to pick this weeks theme , I know I do not always join in but I do love to when I can! Well I have picked The Music Of The Eighties .
In 1983 I was 30yrs old I had three children, infact I had just had my last boy!
The first song I pick is Take On ME By A-Ha : It was revolutionary to me and the video so so clever.
Nothing says eighties more The Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor. The raw determinstiion in the song and the video ! WooW it takes me back to 1982 every time I hear it . I was pregnant with our youngest and my Mum was well and had not had any her strokes and was staying with us …… I miss my Mum!
Now 1983 The voice f the Eighties Bonnie Tyler . Boy she was something and she is still singing! I thought she was etheral and I wanted to be her!
Then of course another of my favourite female singer song writer in colaberation with her one time partner Dave Stewart in Eurithmics The lyrics the Look , someone else I want to emulate. I only manage to get the nerve to have my hair cropped and coloured in late forties! ..In my defence I did break out!
I seem to be stuck in 1983 here but t was a year and a half for music. The Police . Every Breath You Take. Everyone loved this and it was popular for wedding videos… we did not hav DVDs yet! Trouble was the song is not a love song it very threating and about a stalker.
The film of 1983 for me was Flash Dance I had jus had a child after an eight year gap and I started to panic …. so when the boys were at school and the baby was asleep I would dance to the sound track while doing the chores!! I have not picked the obvious track but my favourite Maniac By Michael Sombrello
Okay 1981 The Australian group Men at Work took us all by storm. The video alone is an eye opener not to mention the fabulous lyrics and tune ! Love love love .
I really must apologise I have got stuck in my own personal journey I do hope you have not been board. I could go on and on but I am going to top here with Toto‘s Africa ..just brilliant . Any song that in cludes the line “As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti I seek to cure what’s deep inside, frightened of this thing that I’ve become” is just awesome !
So please don’t wake me , leave me where I am. I’ll come back when I have to.
