POEM FROM TAMIL LITERATURE - A TRUANT LOVER (53)

ABOUT THE POEM: This is a translated version of an overwhelmingly impressive poem from Tamil literature, A TRUANT LOVER. It is about what the girl’s friend said to the lover asking him not to make the girl fret and fume over his truancy and condemns unequivocally his fancy to keep her in a permanent state of anxiety about the safety of her lover. In the course of the poem, the girl’s companion elaborates on the enchanting place of the lover and the hazardous journey with its impending dangers, which the lover has to undertake en route to reach the girl’s place. A TRUANT LOVER On the mountain cliffs, where the clouds cluster and make fun and frolic like mounds of cotton string made by old maids. Jackfruits hanging from the cranky trunks of the zigzag old trees are enormous and expansive. The folks inhabiting the slopes tilling the rough soil for their livelihood. The lively little girl of a hillman nurturing a dark-fingered monkey with a feast of jackfruit young fellow, of these mountains you are an expert in love, yet, you are not a laudable man you keep my friend forever in grip of fear worrying for your security. For the ways by which you cross the slopes in the wee small hours are loaded with hazards. A triumphant elephant after a successful combat tramples a tiger to death, rumbles in rage rampantly trumpeting like thunder. (what the girl’s friend said to the lover asking him not to make the girl fret and fume over his truancy)