Gilgamesh (a poem)

Alone I travel
King without a kingdom
Two parts god and one man
I who have slain two servants of the gods,
Who have traveled the wilderness
And climbed the mountain that touches heaven and hell
I who seek immortality to console myself of the loss of my friend
Alone I travel
Through the tunnel guarded by the deadly scorpion men
The tunnel through which the sun travels by night
Through the darkness I wander
Fear, the scorpion men said I would find here
Fear and pain
And finally, despair
In the oppressive darkness that obscures all light
The shadows take strange shapes
And I hear sounds
What lurks here? What horrible entities dwell in the darkness?
Fear I feel
The darkness is cold, bereft of any warmth
In the darkness I am unable to see the obstructions in my path
Pain I feel
I start to wonder whether I’m not dead
I wonder whether I am not in the underworld
Are those shadows not dead princes, feasting on clay?
Is that wind by my ear not a dead soul, who becomes like a fragile bird?
Despair I feel
Then, in the distance there is light
Faint light, far off light
Hope I feel
The light grows bright, the darkness less oppressive
I am at the tunnel exit
A wide new world stretches before my eyes