The Rumour
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kaṇṭatu maṉṉu morunā lalarmaṉṉun / tiṅkaḷaip pāmpukoṇ ṭaṟṟu.
I met him on one single day — that was all. But the talk that came out of it never stayed the size of that day: it spread the way word of an eclipse spreads, from house to house, until the whole town has it.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“I saw him but one single day: rumour spreads soon / As darkness, when the dragon seizes on the moon.”
“Our meeting was but for one day: but the outcry that hath arisen over it is as when the serpent hath swallowed the moon!”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
கண்டது ஒருநாள்= யான் காதலரைக் கண்ணுறப்பெற்றது ஒரு ஞான்றே; அலர் மன்னும் திங்களைப் பாம்புகொண்டற்று= அதனின் ஆய அலர் அவ்வளவிற்றன்றித் திங்களைப் பாம்பு கொண்ட அலர்போன்று உலகெங்கும் பரந்தது.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
I set eyes on my beloved for one single day; yet the talk that rose from that meeting did not stay the size of that one day. Just as word that a snake has seized the moon runs through the whole world, this talk too has spread through the whole town — so the woman of the poem speaks, and this is how Parimelazhagar explains the couplet.