Classic Poem

Iltani to Sikku, my friend: May Bêl and Nabu bless my friend and grant her health and joy: I am well and my mother also is well. Because it is the fourth month there are many flowers in Babylon. I went this morning with my mother to the temple of Marduk. Many others went also. The litter was stopped some time at the gate of Ishtar through so many people. A young man looked much at me. He had a beautiful beard. It was the colour of wild grapes. It was curled tighter than the wool of my black Persian lamb. But the curls were like rods, not like rings. I smiled to see such a beautiful beard. The Lady Ishtar be my witness, I did not smile at him, but at his beard. Yet now he has written a poem to me saying that I smiled at him. This is wrong. There are also words in the poem about love. This is foolish. If he loves me why does he not write to my mother and my father's brother Nabu-zer-ibini? I must tell you, dear Sikku, that the Arabian powder you sent me by Ikisha has made my hair very pretty. It is now like a flower of copper. Because of distress I am sending you this message. What must I do regarding the poem of Bel├ónu, son of Mar-irsitim? Answer quickly by all means, Sikku.