Mén-zu and the Queen of Dawn

Embrace me - Ishtanna demands of the Boatman -

In your silver barque, take me, awake me!

Hide me from the Darkness, from Death and the Judges.

Make my passage easy

Pleasure and Panacea

Are my gifts to dispense.

Were I to take you - Mén-zu retorts - to make you,

To hold you and to shake you, in passion break you,

Scorn would be my reward, shame the ever present sword.

For you are known to me,

Seducer and Seductress,

Most beautiful Queen of Dawn.

I want but passage, and in return offer

The greatest boon, the desire of every man,

My loins to be set aflame, my body afire.

Distract me from the boredom

Of Rule and Reign

Oh, River Man of Stars.

'Tis yourself you would pleasure then burn me.

Your deceit is clear, avoidance of your sister,

Queen of the Underworld, whom you have betrayed.

My payment this, Ishtanna:

Your Scepter of Power

Relinquished and forfeit.

Oh Boatman! Purloiner! Oh demanding Thief!

What torment you possess to deny me

The funeral of he who spurned me, husband of my Sister -

She who would punish me -

To take my Rod of Power,

To leave me unprotected.

Oh Beautiful Deceiver! Oh Ruler of the Dawn!

'Tis mine to say who passes through yonder Dark Realm.

Not lust nor threat can sway me, nor shall false promise buy me,

The price without doubt is dear.

The Passage lies before you,

Soul's necessity is clear.

Boatman of the Heavens, harsh bargainer thee!

I will do as you offer, I shall pay your dues.

Take this Scepter and to the Netherworld transport me.

I am humbled in your presence,

Stalwart, trust and true.

Release me now to my Fates!

Beautiful Queen of the Dawn, brilliant you are.

Into the Light of Darkness I send you

Where none will defend you nor pretend with you.

You have earned your passage

With Fearlessness and Courage,

Go now through Death's Gate!

Mén-zu and the Queen of Dawn is my own poetic reappraisal of one encounter of relinquishment of seven vestments of power that Inanna (the figure of Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld, a Sumerian classic epic) is required to surrender as the price for her to enter the Underworld/Realm of Death.

It is well recognized that this epic relates the seven conjunctions in the morning sky of the Crescent Moon and Venus, prior to the descent of Venus back below the horizon, and therefore into invisibility/darkness/death. Thence she is reborn as the Evening Star and has seven distinct encounters with the Crescent Moon in the evening sky, where she reclaims her vestments. In Ishtanna (a recombination of Ishtar and Inanna) I have kept true to the archetypal nature of Inanna, as expressed in the original epic, as being a manipulator, abuser and murderer who seems to take pride in her exploits of sexual conquering, her ability to lie and thieve. She is, as such, the unresolved shadow side of the feminine of each of us, man and woman alike.

Mén-zu is a creative synthesis of the masculine archetype of the Moon. The name Mén-zu is drawn from the ancient names of the Lunar God, Mén (Phrygian) and Su'en (Sumerian). Prior to the time of the classical Greeks, cultures throughout the world held the Moon to be masculine. Here, in this poetic reappraisal of Mén-zu and Ishtanna, he is the embodiment of the masculine principle that holds steadfast and true, lives with integrity and has no need of resorting to macho behavior. He is, indeed, the archetypal role model of the awoken masculine. Understand, please, that masculine does not equate with male, anymore than feminine means female. We each of us have masculine and feminine components of our inner dynamic.

A simple explanation of this mythos is to say that when we live with integrity and values, we are no longer susceptible to having our lives controlled by lascivious, deceitful and disrespectful behaviors. The mythic theater expressed in this poem is, in that sense, a road map for the soul, showing us how to create a more honoring and honorable life for ourselves.