You strive ceaselessly, what do you gain?
When you wear out your strength in ceaseless striving,
When you torture your limbs with pain,
You hasten the distant end of you days.
Mankind, whose descendants are snapped off like reeds in a canebrake,
The handsome young man, the lovely young woman, death.

So it is to go find Utanapishtim, whom they call the “Distant One,”
I traversed all lands,
I came over, one after another, wearisome mountains,
Then I crossed, one after another, all the seas.
Too little sweet sleep has smoothed my countenance,
I have worn myself out in sleeplessness,
My muscles ache for misery,
What have I gained for my trials?

Gilgamesh, wherefore do you wander?
The eternal life you are seeking you shall not find.
When the gods created mankind,
They established death for mankind,
And withheld eternal life for themselves.
As for you, Gilgamesh, let your stomach be full,
Always be happy, night and day.
Make every day a delight,
Night and day play and dance.
Your clothes should be clean,
You head should be washed,
You should bathe in water,
Look proudly on the little one holding your hand,
Let your mate be always blissful in you loins,
This, then, is the work of mankind.

After my restless roaming in the steppe,
There will be ample repose, deep in the earth.
I have been asleep all these years!
Now let me eyes see the sun let me have all the light I could wish for,
Darkness is infinite, how little light there is!
When may the dead see the radiance of the sun?

Why did you endow my son Gilgamesh with a restless heart?
Now you have moved him to travel

Traversing the ocean, the vast sea, to the sun’s rising
Exploring the furthest reaches of the earth

Seeking everywhere for eternal life