Before a brick learned memory Before reed cut law in clay I sat above the counting hands And watched the first men learn to pray They brought me oil in little bowls Grain in sacks, goats with bad moods I'm the high father, the old command Still living rent-free in the human truth Thunder wears me badly I stand above what men can climb They begged for rain with dusty knees Then cursed me when it came on time They stacked my meals on temple steps Bread, beer, dates, and worried faces One man gave a skinny lamb And asked for seven royal places I heard the priests misread the smoke Saw kings act humble for one hour Saw merchants promise honest weights Then hide their greed inside the flour Wet tablets took my shape Mud held heat from temple blood Men looked up for holy order Then fought for chairs and called it good I am the roof above the roof The reason rulers raise their eyes Half their prayers were fear in robes Half were deals in thin disguise I heard the prayer behind the deal I saw the hunger kneel for real A goat can't buy a cleaner hand The sky still knows who owns the land I am Anu, laughing at the deal They pour me oil and ask for more Every ruler begs to make it real Every hunger knocks my door I am Anu, landlord of the sky They pay in fear and ask for peace Every loud prayer learns to lie Every quiet debt demands release Never dress me up in silver ships Never sell me through cheap mouths I was carved in human hunger Long before your fear looked south I was barley, debt, inheritance Temple shade and judgment day A man once shaved his finest bull Then cried because his wife still stayed They kissed the floor with perfect drama Then stole a jar behind the shrine And blamed the goat for all the karma I watched them beg for sons and land For rivals gone, for fuller jars Same old wish in newer clothes Now whispered under taller bars Your courts, your flags, your contracts Wear new cloth on ancient bone Every ruler wants permission From a height he can not own Before your laws learned how to stand I read the dirt inside your hand You raise a shrine, you hide a blade Then call me down to bless the trade I am Anu, judge of appetite They bring me songs and ask for land Every small wish grows by night Every soft palm turns to hand I am Anu, watching dinner burn They feed me first, then starve the poor Every holy hand takes its turn Every locked heart begs for more I gave no mercy to the careless I gave no throne without a cost Power always needs a witness Every empire counts its lost I saw men feed me roasted meat Then starve a neighbor by the gate That is the joke inside devotion Holy hands can still hold hate I sat above the god assembly Highest father, measured breath Where fate was weighed in older language Where rule stood close to death Say I am myth, then read the tablets Say I am gone, then watch your hands You still divide, appoint, inherit You still make scared claims on my lands They brought me bread, then begged for more Gold on the plate, guilt on the floor You call it holy, I call it trade The oldest debt that fear has made I am Anu, root of high dominion Father of the Anunnaki line Clay remembers my decision Kings still drink my bitter wine I am Anu, first position Heaven fixed above the plain Every mark, every border Carries dust from my old reign I am Anu, remembered Never a ghost in scholar dust I am rank, throne, debt, inheritance I am all before, you start to trust Before the first man owned a field Before the first son held a throne I watched him bring a bowl of grain And ask the sky to bless his loan I sat where height became authority Above the fear, beneath the sound And watched the clay look up at me Then watched on gods who look down
