Praising Her Beauty
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malarkāṇiṉ maiyātti neñcē yivaḷkaṇ / palarkāṇum pūvokku meṉṟu.
He catches his own heart borrowing a stock comparison: flowers are something a whole street can look at, while her eyes are his alone to know. The comparison fails not because it aims too low, but because it aims at something everybody already shares.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“You deemed, as you saw the flowers, her eyes were as flowers, my soul, / That many may see; it was surely some folly that over you stole!”
“Thou becomest distracted whenever thou seest a flower, O my Heart! Thou thinkest that the flowers that look on all men can resemble her eye!”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
நெஞ்சே- நெஞ்சே!; இவள் கண் பலர் காணும் பூ ஒக்கும் என்று= யானே காணப்பெற்ற இவள் கண்களைப் பலரானும் காணப்படும் பூக்கள் ஒக்கும் என்று கருதி; மலர்காணின் மையாத்தி= தாமரை, குவளை, நீலம் முதலிய மலர்களைக் கண்டால் மயங்காநின்றாய், நின் அறிவிருந்தவாறு என்!
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains this as the lover speaking to his own heart: 'O heart, you have decided that her eyes — which I alone have been given to see — are the equal of flowers that anyone at all may see; and so the moment you catch sight of a lotus or a blue lily you stand there dazed. What has become of your judgement!'