immortality

mortality fell hard on Gilgamesh
as maggots ate what had been his best friend
to contemplate the fated ways that flesh
of king or peon must go in the end
his vast vitality could not pin Death
nor even throw her little sister Sleep
as each year ticked away towards his last breath
tomorrows with their petty paces creep
his Enkidu would never stoop with age
forever frozen memories of youth
unfaded like an old papyrus page
persist within his heart of hearts as truth
no strength, no monuments, no walls are sure
and nought but genes and epic verse endure