Sumerian Peace Poetry from Year of The Poet (Vol 53)

Featured in The Year of the Poet May, 2018 Volume 53.

Sumerian Words

Shi — the breath of life
breathing life into writing and poetry
thousands of years ago

Utukagaba — Water and the light
established at the gates of the waters
in the fertile crescent of modern day Iraq

Melammu — Bright
awe-inspiring luminosity creating
knowledge and wisdom

Adannu — Time meeting at the appointed time
sixty minutes in an hour
360 degrees in a circle

Rabu — To compensate or make great
civilization but also wars
leading to the end forgotten until recently

Inu — Eye
what beauty did you see
in the world around you

Akalu — Eat
did you eat that which brought
satisfaction and gratitude

Nahu — Calm down
what did you dream of at night
in peace and darkness

Sinnisnartu — Woman Singer
singing out loud
the earliest written poetry

Sumerian, Iraqi poetry with Kimberly Burnham, Photo by Saad Salim on Unsplash

Cosmopolitan Babylonian Peace

In the land of Babylonia
and Mesopotamia lived great
nations supplanting each other
one merging into another
wars brought change and adoption
borrowing knowledge words
and ways of living in war and peace

Sumerians wrote early words
“nahu” to calm down and feel the peace
in the quiet moments “suharruru”
experiencing safety “salamu”
in a language now extinct
with no relatives

Supplanted by the Akkadians
naming peace and amity
“salimu” for the male face of peace
“silimu” for the female side
in an Afro-Asiatic language similar to Arabic
saying “salaam” and Aramaic

A language spoken in liturgy
and in modern day Iraq
“shlamaa” or “shlam” or “silha”
in Aramaic which once dominated
the more formal Akkadian

Only to be pushed aside by a Persian
migration of Indo-Iranian peoples
who call to peace by the names
“solh” “sulh” and “ashtee”
in the language of Rumi

One poet supplanting another
sharing words and thoughts
before war pushed them aside
always hoping their words would last
forever

Time Enough

How much time
do we need
if we only had 60 seconds
in every moment
each breath brings life
to 60 minutes in an hour
courtesy of the Sumerians
with their sexigesimal system
seeping out in time and space
while 500,000 clay tablets
hold more secrets
buried in the sands of Iraq
over thousands of years

The Year of the Poet Volume 53 May 2018, Inner Child Press, Poetry Posse, Kimberly Burnham, Sumarian, Iraqi peace.

Originally published in The Year of The Poet (Vol 53) at http://www.innerchildpress.com/the-year-of-the-poet.php on May 1, 2018.