The Ballad of Ziusudra and Shiduri

The Babylonians believed
We are the robots of the gods,
An expediency against
Labor unrest among lesser
Deities doing the hard work
Of making Earth palatable
For divinity until then.
So it was, and so shall be done.

"We survive," Ziusudra said
To his patient wife, Shiduri
(Not possessed, like him, of promise,
Explicit and binding, for life
Immortal, irrevocable
From the chastened, remaining gods),
Surviving only if he lived,
Insulted, but equivalent,

"Both because we did as they said,
And because we wholly tricked them.
We will never trick them again."
Thus, when a mortal king arrived,
Handsome, Shiduri took pity
On him, just to see him, too, fooled
By a snake. After that, she vowed,
"I live to make my own robots."