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O baby who dwelt in the dark

O baby who dwelt in the dark,
~Out you came and saw the daylight.
Why do you cry? why do you [wail?]
~And why did you not cry before you were born?
You've roused the house god, the bull-man has woken:
~"Who was it roused me? who was it made me jump?"
"The baby roused you! the baby made you jump!"
~"Like a drinker of wine, like one born in a tavern:
~~Let slumber befall it!"

Explanatory Notes:  The composition's rubric classifies it as an "incantation to pacify a baby"; in modern generic terms no doubt it was a lullaby.
Source:  W. Farber, Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie 71 (1981) 62 rev. 1-11
Date:  18th century BC
Language:  Old-Babylonian
Medium:  clay tablet
See all in category Incantation texts