Lyrics
[“Uruk”]
Narrator: Close your eyes. This needs your imagination. Two settlements in the desert become one, the first city, Uruk. It grows haphazard by the nurturing river. Narrow streets wind outward over thousands of years around new houses, new neighborhoods until walls are finally built to contain them.
In the distance she could already see the White Temple of Anu. She would soon be in the city. Before she knows it she’s at the gates. The man she’s with speaks to the guards, shows them something written on a clay tablet. And then they enter Uruk.
It has been a long trip. Twilight is arriving. Some families are already on rooftops preparing for sleep under a cloudless night sky. She passes the ziggurat that she had seen from a great distance. Deep within the ziggurat is an old stone temple from many centuries earlier that the people of Uruk have entirely forgotten. But I remember it.
She walks and twilight deepens along the walls all around Uruk. She enters a small vestibule in the palace and turns left down a long, dark, narrow corridor, at the end of which she washes the desert dust from her hands and feet. The quiet of the streets is now replaced by the cacophony of the inner palace where the king demands constant activity. Scribes, cooks, servants, soldiers all go about their business, and none take much notice of her despite her great beauty. She passes the great hall where foreign dignitaries eat exotic fruits, cakes, and other delicacies while complaining in cautious whispers about having to wait.
In the middle of the hall is a great funerary statue of the king’s father, and there are statues of the king as well. She barely has time to take all of this in when she finds herself in a private courtyard. The man who is with her backs away. Now she lowers her eyes and kneels. And there high above rising from his throne: Gilgamesh.
[This Is My Way]
Gilgamesh: Memory has to be sung
When music is played
And made for your heart
Dear lady, let’s start
Our evening has just begun
Father would take me about
This palace each day
And say with a nod
You’re two-thirds a god
Don’t leave anyone in doubt
Be not frightened, my love
This is my way, only my way
Look out my window and see
You’re far from it all—
The stalls and the streets
And wrapped in my sheets
I see what a wife you’ll be
Nothing can end perfectly
I’ll miss it so much
That touch of your hand
Now back to your man
Go tell him that he is free
Going back on my word
Isn’t my way-- this is my way
My way, mmm hmm, my way, my way, my way…
Ho, oh, This is my way!