This is a poem from an anthology(Purananooru) of 400 pieces on 'the exterior' or public life. A translation is given from here.
Every Town a Home Town
Every town our home town,
Every man a kinsman.
Good and evil do not come
from others.
Pain and relief of pain
come of themselves.
Dying is nothing new.
We do not rejoice
that life is sweet
nor in anger
call it bitter.
Our lives, however dear,
follow their own course,
rafts drifting
in the rapids of a great river
sounding and dashing over the rocks
after a downpour
from skies slashed by lightnings-
we know this
from the vision
of men who see.
So,
we are not amazed by the great,
and we do not scorn the little.
-- Kaniyan Punkunran"Good and evil do not come from others. Pain and relief of pain come of themselves."
-- indicates emphasis on personal choice and belief in consequences
of personal decisions. Existentialism ?
"Dying is nothing new. We do not rejoice that life is sweet nor in anger call it bitter."
-- okay..."we are not amazed by the great, and we do not scorn the little."
-- moralistic, then its not nihilism.
Enigmatic little poem.
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2 comments:
Hi Kela,
No Enigma. Just observations of human life and a pathway for those who cannot observe such facts.
This is puranaanooru...the Exterior 400 poems dealing with man in society...Tamil also has Aganaanooru which are 400 poems which relate to man's mind and how it influences his life...
Atleast puranaanooru are to be read in the context that early tamils were great sailors given to a lot of sea trade. So the phrase "Yaadum Oore Yaavarum Kelir" became quite famous.
The beauty of the poem is that it is equally applicable today - say in your context, as it was 2000 years ago.
>>equally applicable today-say in your context
saachuputtiyae machaan saachuputtiyae... !! aaha ippadi naan nenaikkavae illaiyae.
[Transl: I hadnt thought of this like that before]
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