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.


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