And here the king in blissful dreams oft lies
’Mid pure ambrosial odors, and light flies
The tune in bliss; away from kingly care,
And hollow splendor of the courtly glare;
Away from triumphs, battle-fields afar,
The favorite haunt of huntsman Izdubar.

The Queen of Love the glowing spot surveys,
And sees the monarch where he blissful lays;
And watching till he takes his bow and spear
To chase the wild gazelles now browsing near,
She, ere the king returns, near by arrives
With her two maids; with them for love connives,
Joy and seduction thus voluptuous fly
Her Samkhatu,[8] Kharimtu[9] from the sky,
As gently, lightly as a spirit’s wing
Oft carries gods to earth while Sedu sing. 
Thus, they, with lightest step, expectant stood
Within this lovely spot beneath the wood.

Their snowy limbs they bare, undraped now stand
Upon the rock at Ishtar’s soft command. 
Like marble forms endued with life they move,
And thrill the air with welcome notes of love. 
The its-tu-ri Same mut-tab-ri[10] sang
Their sweetest notes, and the Khar-san-u[11] rang
With songs of thrushes, turtle-doves and jays,
And linnets, with the nightingale’s sweet lays,
Goldfinches, magpies and the wild hoopoes;
With cries of green-plumed parrots and cuckoos,
Pee-wits and sparrows join the piercing cries
Of gorgeous herons, while now upward flies
The eagle screaming, joyful spreads his wings
Above the forest; and the woodchuck rings
A wild tattoo upon the trees around;
And humming-birds whirr o’er the flowering ground
In flocks, and beat the luscious laden air
With emerald and gold, and scarlet, where
These perfect forms with godly grace divine,
In loveliness upon the rock recline. 
Sweet joy is slender formed, with bright black eyes
That sparkle oft and dance with joy’s surprise;
Seduction, with her rare voluptuous form,
Enchanteth all till wildest passions warm
The blood and fire the eye beneath her charm;
All hearts in heaven and earth she doth disarm. 
The Queen with every perfect charm displayed
Delights the eye, and fills the heart, dismayed
With fear, lest the bright phantom may dissolve
To airy nothingness, till fierce resolve
Fills each who her beholds, while love doth dart
From liquid eyes and captivates the heart. 
She is the queen who fills the earth with love
And reigns unrivalled in her realms above.

Beware, ye hearts! beware! who feel the snare
Of Ishtar, lest ye tread upon the air;
When ye her rosy chain of fragrance wear,
When blindness strikes the eye, and deaf the ear
Becomes, and heartstrings only lead you then,
Till ye return to common sense again;
Enthralled mayhap and captive led in chains,
Ye then will leisure have to bear your pains;
Or if perchance a joy hath come to thee,
Through all thy joyous life, then happy be!