Sing!  O sweet-suckled Ishtar, purple orb of wonder, of inspiration which is the dance of children about the twilight, drunk upon the sunsets of Dilmun!  of the clouds above the Earth!  of the Heavens above the clouds!  of Du-Ku!  where even now, Inanna, daughter of the evening, blazes forth as a sun burning against the darkness of night!

And immediately a bell sounded from within the Aethyr, and Enki bore up his cup of libation in the swoon of ecstasy!  And the nectar fell rich and warm into his belly.  And Enki fell before the Altar of Inanna, first daughter of the moon, offering incense and singing praises.

(And this was the voice of Enki):

O Inanna!

of the sunset,
of the twilight,

First daughter of the Moon!

Mighty, majestic, radiant, ever youthful,

Inanna!

of purity,
of innocence,
of passion purple and innermost drunken-ness!

Mighty, majestic, radiant, ever youthful,

Inanna!

Come forth into the Temple of my Heart,

Remember thine undying love!
Remember thine eternal promise!
Remember thine oath, sworn to thy lover, Dumuzi!

Come forth into the Temple of my Heart,

O Inanna!

Burn within my Heart!

Fill me with Strength, and Lust, and Passion, and Love!

And the voice of Enki was heard, and immediately was his supplication answered, for she softened his Heart and spake, her presence unfolding about the Aethyr as ethereal purple wings.

(And this was the voice of Inanna):

I am the Heart of Ecstasy,

and the sighs and moans of thine lover,
and the warm dew fallen in the sweetness of her pleasure,
and the passion of her ecstasy,

I am the blossoming of the flower,

and the warmth of the sunset,
and the twilight,
and the first star of the evening sky,

I am the laughing lion borne upon the banner blue and gold,
and the whisper of the wind wherein it furls and unfurls.

I am the beauty of the windswept desert,
and the cool evening breeze,

and the candle flame of a rusty lantern as it journeys across the
sands by hand of a nomad, even as a sentinel flame-tongue of
righteousness and truth,

I am the Beginning, and the End,
and the mysteries of Life, and of Death,

and the delight which accompanies these.

I am hidden ever in the crevices of the here-and-now,

but even as thou art,

I AM.

The voice of Inanna being finished, Enki fell exhausted in the rapture of her omnipresence, and night had fallen, now revealed by the passing of the clouds, and it was a solemn night, still but for the moon, and the Aethyr was crystalline silent.

And a silent awe fell upon the Gods as they watch the Hearts of Gods and Men burn with inner glory.  And Enki raised up his hand, for his Heart too was touched, and immediately the moon liquefied a portion of itself into a tear, called Nippur in a certain tongue, and this fell, causing a luminous white-blue splash.  And the ripples therefrom extended throughout the Aethyr, washing away the sins, and all that un-pleasing to Inanna, even as the ebb-tide of the Sea. . .