Ištar and the Transliteration

Back by semi-popular demand, my continuing translation of what Rykle Borger calls, in the text I'm using, Die Höllenfahrt der Göttin Ištar (although the idea of Ištar in a Christian Hell is actually a lot more disturbing than anything I can find in the Mesopotamian underworld). I must warn all prospective readers that there are no zombies in the first thirteen lines of Ištar's Descent. I hope this won't put you off too much.

ana KUR.NU.GI₄.A qaqqari lā târi
^dIštar mārat ^dSîn uzunša iškun
iškunma mārat ^dSîn uzunša
ana bīti etê šubat ^dIrkalla
ana bīti ša ēribušu lā asû
ana hārrani ša alaktaša lā tayyarat
ana bīti ša ēribušu zummū nūra
ašar epru bubūssunu akalšunu tittu
nūru ul immarū ina etûti ašbū
labšūma kīma issūrāti subāt gappi
eli dalti u sikkūri šabuh epru
^dIštar ana bāb KUR.NU.GI₄.A ina kašādiša
ana atû bābi amatum izzakkar . . .

To KUR.NU.GI, land of no return,
Ištar, daughter of Sîn, turned her attention,
the daughter of Sîn turned her attention
to the dark house, the seat of Irkalla,
to the house whose entrants do not come out again,
to the road whose way is without return,
to the house whose entrants are deprived of light,
where dust is their nourishment and clay their food.
They do not see light, they dwell in darkness,
and they are clothed like birds with a garment of wings;
dust has settled on the door and the bolt.
When Ištar came to the gate of the underworld,
she said a word to the keeper of the gate . . .

If there's a serious call for it, I'll even start posting variant lines from the Aššur manuscript. Who else wants to get their Assyriological geek on?