Papyrus Berlin 3024
This is the translation of 'Papyrus Berlin 3024'by John L. Foster professor and editor of the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt [or at least in 1992 when this was published-Echoes of Egyptian Voices (University of Oklahoma Press)].
other sources of hieratic text and translation for this papyrus are Hans Goedicke "The Report about the Dispute of a Man with His Ba"(John Hopkins University Press 1970) and RO Faulkner, "The Man Who Was Tired of Life" (Journal of Egyptian Archeology 42-1956)
Interesting insight-Egyptians never scribed or wrote vowels in their heiroglyphs.
Tht wld mk rdng vr cmplctd!
"The following poem is a discussion- at times acrimonious-- between a man so disspirited he wants to die and his BA, or soul, which insists that one must endure life until the end comes naturally. The single surviving papyrus, its beginning lost, dates to Dynasty XII, about 2000-1800 BC. It is a profound text and difficult to translate. Yet the man's despair gives rise to some of the finest lyric poetry to survive from ancient Egypt."-John Foster
THE DEBATE BETWEEN A MAN TIRED OF LIFE AND HIS SOUL
-I-
--------------------
[(lost except for:)The man's BA-bird, or SOUL, is concluding a speech:]
--------------------
The tongues of the gods, they do not speak amiss,
..............they make no special cases.
-II-
I opened my mouth to my soul
..............that I might answer what it had said:
This is more than I can bear just now!
-----my soul could find no time for me!
It is beyond belief
-----as if I should hesitate to do the deed!
Let my soul not disappear like this, not flutter off,
.....but let it take its stand beside me--
Or never shall it have the chance
.....to wrap my person in its stifling bonds:
And for all its twitter, never
.....shall it escape the Day of Reckoning.
O all you gods,
.....see how my soul defames me!
I will not listen to it ever
.....as I drag my way toward dissolution;
For it will not help me do the death by fire--
.....myself the victim, who shall no more suffer,
Let it be near me on the Day of Reckoning!
.....Let it stand tall on that side yonder
...............as one who shares my joy!
Yet this the very soul that rushes off, it vanishes,
.....to separate itself from death.
My foolish soul is going to ease the pains of living, is it?
.....Keep me from death until I come to it by nature?
NO! make the West [region of the dead] sweet for me now!
.....Is there not pain and suffering enough?
--That is the stuff of life: a troubled journey, a circuit of the sun;
.....even the trees decay and fall.
O tread you down upon injustice,
.....end my helplessness!
Judge me, O Thoth [god of wisdom], you who can soothe the gods;
.....defend, O Khonsu [the moon god], me, a teller of truth;
Hear, O Re [sun god and creator],my speaking, you who command the skyship;
.....defend me, O Anubus [god of the dead],in the holy hall of judgement--
Because my need is heavy in the scale,
.....and it has raised the pan of sweetness out of reach.
...............Preserve, O gods, the quiet center of my being!
-III-
What my soul said to me:
You are no man at all!
.....Are you even alive?
How full you are of your complaints of life
.....like a man of means preaching to passersby!
Things sink down to ruin. Well, save yourself by getting up!
.....There are no bonds on you as of some prisoner whining-
'I shall get even with you:
.....and you, your name shall die!
Life! That is the place of fluttering down,
.....heart's own desire, the district of the West
..........................after a troubled crossing'
-IV-
I continued:
If my soul, my foolish brother, would only listen,
.....its wish would be like mine;
And it would perch most blest at my right hand,
.....reaching the West like one who has a pyramid
..................towering for after-generations over his grave.
And I would wave the sacred fan above your listless form
.....that you attract another soul to join you, weary one;
And I would wave the fan again, then say the spell,
.....so you might lure a different, fiery soul;
I would find drink from inshore eddies, raise up food,
.....beguile some other hungry soul to stay with you.
But if you keep me back from death this way,
.....I promise you no peace in the West forever!
"Be still, my soul, my brother,
.....until a successor comes with offerings
To stand at the tomb on burial day
.....and deck a bed in the city of God."
-V-
Then my soul opened its mouth to me
.....that it might answer what I had said:
Your graveyard thoughts bring sadness to the heart,
.....and tears, feeding our misery;
That is what shovels a man into his house
.....dug in the rock on the hill:
There, there is no more coming forth for you
.....to see the sunny days,
Or workmen crafting their buildings in granite,
.....putting last touches on pyramids,
Or the beauties of the monuments,
.....or where builders fashion alters for the gods:
You are emptied and drear, like those without motion
.....dead on the riverbank, no one caring:
Water laps at their backs,
.....the sun does its work,
..............and, lips in the current, fish whisper to them.
NOW LISTEN TO ME--
.....pay some attention to what people say:
..............Spend your days happily! Forget your troubles!
There was a man, and he farmed his plot of land:
....and he was loading his harvest into a ship
..............for the voyage to his accounting, which drew near.
And he saw coming a night of wind and weather
....so that he was watchful of the ship, waiting for day,
While he dreamed of life with his wife and children
....who had perished on the Lake of Death
..............on a dark night, with crocodiles.
And after he was pondering there some time,
....he shaped the silence into words, saying,
'I have not wept for that mother yonder--
....for her there is no returning from the West,
..............no more than any who have lived on earth.
But let me mourn the children, killed in her womb,
....who saw the face of Death ere ever they were born.'
There was another man, and he wanted his evening meat;
....and there was his wife, saying,
...............'There will be bread.'
And he went outdoors to fume awhile
....and then go back inside
Behaving like a better person
.....(his wife was wise to his ways).
Yet he never really listened to her,
.....so the death demons came and carried him off.
-VI-
I opened my mouth to my soul
.....that I might answer what it had said:
i
How my name stinks because of you
....more than the stink of bird dung on a summer's day
...............under a burning sky.
How my name stinks because of you
....more than the catch of fish on a good angling day
...............under a burning sky.
How my name stinks because of you
....more than the stench of marsh birds on the hummocks
...............filthy with waterfowl.
How my name stinks because of you
....more than the fisherman's smell at runnels of swamps
...............after they have been fishing.
How my name stinks because of you
....more than the reek of crocodiles sunning on the sunbanks
...............alive with their crocodile kind.
How my name stinks because of you
....more than the wife about whom lies
...............are told to her wedded husband.
How my name stinks because of you
....more than the able youth of whom they falsely say
...............that he is a prisoner of everything he should despise.
How my name stinks because of you
....more than the crocodile's cove, where the fool taunts him
...............careful his back is turned.
ii
Who is there to talk to today?
....Brothers are evil;
...............the friends of today, they do not love us.
Who is there to talk to today?
....Hearts are rapacious;
...............each man covets his neighbor's goods.
Who is there to talk to today?
....Gentleness is dead;
...............brute strength bears down on everyone.
Who is there to talk to today?
....Men are proud of the evil they do;
...............good everywhere falls defeated.
Who is there to talk to today?
....A man is maddened by evil fortune;
...............the sad injustice moves all to laughter.
Who is there to talk to today?
....Robbery, plundering;
...............each man a predator on his companion.
Who is there to talk to today?
....The malefactor masks as best friend;
...............the trusted brother turns into an enemy.
Who is there to talk to today?
....There is no thought for tradition;
...............no one nurturing decency these days.
Who is there to talk to today?
....Brother betray;
...............they take to strangers, not men of integrity.
Who is there to talk to today?
....Faces are wiped out;
...............each, high or low, fighting all others.
Who is there to talk to today?
....Hearts are selfish and slick;
...............no heart to lean on.
Who is there to talk to today?
....There are no righteous men;
...............earth is abandoned to evil.
Who is there to talk to today?
....Emptiness in trusted friends;
...............blind ignorance to life that brings wisdom.
Who is there to talk to today?
....No man of satisfied mind;
...............one to walk quietly with does not exist.
Who is there to talk to today?
....I am bowed too low with my misery
...............lacking someone to share the thoughts in my heart.
Who is there to talk to today?
....Wrongdoing beats on the earth,
...............and of it there is no end.
iii
So death is before me now--
....the healthy state of sick man--
...............like coming out in the air after suffering.
So death is before me now--
....like the fragrance of myrrh
...............or sailing at ease on a breezy day.
So death is before me now--
....like the aroma of flowers,
...............like being drunk in Promised land.
So death is before me now--
....like the breath of a new inundation,
...............like coming home from a long expedition.
So death is before me now--
....like a clearing sky,
...............like understanding what perplexed us before.
So death is before me now--
....like one longing to see his home
...............after long years in prison.
iv
But to be one who is over there
....with living God
...............fighting evil for Him who made him!
But to be one who is over there
....erect in the skyship
...............offering choice gifts to the temples!
But to be one who is over there
....One who finally, perfectly know!
...............And he shall never be kept from approaching
..........................................great God
........................whenever he would speak!
-VII-
What my soul said to me:
....................Put your murmuring aside now.
O you who belong to me, my brother,
....must you be sacrifice upon the flaming alter?
Friend, fight on the side of life!
....Say to me, 'Love me HERE!'
Put thoughts of the West behind you!
....LOVE! yes, LOVE, indeed,
So that you may in due time reach the West,
....may touch your body gently to the earth;
And I shall flutter down beside you
....when you are weary of the world at last.
..............Then shall we two be fellow citizens together. |
