#099: So you want to declare your love for someone? 💌

Lessons from our greatest artists

During a recent doomscrolling session, I came across a history account’s post of the world’s oldest love poem The Love Song for Shu-Sin, written in 2,000 BCE. The poem was found inscribed on a clay tablet in cuneiform in ancient Mesopotamia, the first-known civilization. The author is unnamed but it is believed to be written from the point of view of a ceremonial bride to King Shu-Sin, and was likely recited during a ritual of marriage, mating, or both. More than 4,000 years later, what strikes me is that we’ve been comparing love to honey for literally thousands of years, and that her voice remains rich with desire (some of us were just destined to be lover girls even back then).

Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet,
Lion, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.
You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you.

Bridegroom, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber,
You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you.

Earlier this we…