Nineb Lamassu was born in the ancient Assyrian city of Karkha D’Beth Sluq better known with its corrupted version which survives in Arabic as Kirkuk. At the age of nine, he fled Iraq together with his family, with the exception of his father who was arrested shortly thereafter. The family fled to Iran, and from there on Lamassu’s life has been an endless journey that has taken him to many countries but never back to his homeland. Lamassu has lived in Iran, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, and London UK, where he lives now with his wife and son.

According to Lamassu: “My life has been like poetry squeezed in a bottle carried by numerous waves to various destinations but I can’t seem to find the one wave that takes me back to my precise point of departure, my birthplace. All my poetry has been supplications and struggles in order to return to the beginning. It is in the memory of the first nine years of my life that I find solace.”

Lamassu started writing poetry in his mother’s tongue “Assyrian” very early in his life, at the age of 13 one of his poems won a prize in New Zealand, and was recited in the Assyrian radio programme in Wellington. Lamassu’s poetry demonstrate his love of his mother tongue, an ancient language which still survives, despite the persecutions suffered by Assyrians under suppressive regimes, and despite attempts at linguicide. Lamassu’s first book was published in 2000 in Sydney under the title of “Four Heartbeats”, and his poetry has been published in most respected Assyrian journals and magazines. He is currently working on his second anthology of poetry under the title “Flaming Anthems”.

Lamassu has participated in various poetry festivals, and recently he recited a some of his poems and their translations in the British Museum as part of the Museum’s: Babylon: Myth and Reality exhibition. This evening of poetry will be repeated again on the 27th of February 2009.

In this poem, Lamassu manifests his love for his country by turning it into a female, one that is the object of his love and affection

1. English Translation & mp3   2. Assyrian Original   3. Photograph

Unequivocal Love

Nineb Lamassu

I am all desire to love you With an unequivocal love Prostrate myself and worship you More than our father in heaven I am all desire to lie in your arms And cover myself with the linen of your hair To run wild in the meadows of your chest And hold vigils in the nightly sky of your eyes I am all desire for them to label me as: A sinner and my sin being your love If i die, I am all desire to find a place in your heart I am all desire to dwell in spring And your lips, are the birth place of spring I am all desire to run my lips freely All over the high peaks of your physique Span by span until I reach From your head to your toenail So that others don’t kill your soul Just so they can get to your body.

Click here to listen to an mp3 recording of Nineb reading the poem in Assyrian

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Babylon Late