Alaipaayuthey
Translated by Tamil by S. Shankar
excerpted from his novel, No End to the Journey
Restless as the waves of the ocean, Kanna,
is my mind.
Ebbing and flowing
in the joyous, melodious
song of your flute,
my mind is a restless ocean.
You stand still as an unmovable statue,
unmindful of the passing of time,
O marvelous player of the flute,
while my mind is a restless ocean.
Moon without blemish
burns hot and bright as day.
My brow furrows
from looking towards you in hope.
Your sweet flute song
comes blowing on the wind. Eyes roll helplessly-
dizzy, faint, I am overcome.
You rejoiced so in planting your foot
firmly on my restless mind!
You embraced me in a wild place,
woke my senses, made me bloom!
Like sunlight gleaming
on the resounding ocean waves
gleamed the anklets on your feet!
Is this your wish?
That I cry out like this to you-
wild, my mind liquid with longing-
while still you frolic with your other women?
Is this deserved? proper? just?
Like the earrings that swing
as you play your flute,
my mind swings, suffers,
restless as the waves of the ocean.
Kanna, my mind
is restless as the ocean
in the joyous melodious
song of your flute.