SUMERIAN PROVERBS FOUND ON A HOT DAY AFTER A TRIP TO THE GROCERY STORE FOR TUNA FISH & CRACKERS

(“History Begins at Sumer” by Samuel Noah Kramer,1959)

HYGIENE

Everybody talks to the well-dressed man.

Except for Fred.

THE GLASSES IRONY

If I wore glasses, I could see the rich man

and marry him, but I cannot afford glasses.

A SHRINE and A RIVER

My wife is in the outdoor shrine.

My mother is in the river.

Is she naked?

I am starving from hunger.

And yet I have a wife and a naked mother.

BEREFT

He who has never had a wife or a child 

has never owned a leash although he might

own a dog or a wolverine or perhaps a whirligig.

PLENTITUDE

A frisky woman can take pain

and add a dollop of ache to it

who knows where she finds it?

But she does because of her

energy which is quite abundant

but not good and she is a good shopper

she loves going out in the evenings

INQUIRY OF SELF

I am a steed

tied to a mule

who must draw a cart

who hates mules.

In my cart

are not riches

just stupid things

reeds and stubble

for example

from my master’s yard 

and beard, respectively.

BONDS

Friendship lasts a day

but if you love someone

you will not die until they do

or vice versa and so forth and so on.

LABOR

The blacksmith’s dog overturns the flower pot

for he cannot overturn the anvil for he is 

a weak, bad dog.

IMMORTALITY

After escaping the wild ox

The wild cow asked me if I was OK

I said yes and then

The wild bull gored me

These are my last words

I just wanted you to know them.

GREED

He longs to catch the fox and make it into a stole

He already imagines it around his neck

while the fox imagines marrying and settling down

with a beautiful woman in a house made of pine.

MORALS

I snuck onto my neighbor’s property and stole his house

and while I did

My neighbor snuck onto my property and stole my house

My mother was naked in the river, still.