Pining and Complaint
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maṉṉuyi rellān tuyiṟṟi yaḷittirā / veṉṉalla tillai tuṇai.
She has put every living thing to sleep, and now there is nobody left for her but me. Poor night.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“All living souls in slumber soft she steeps; / But me alone kind night for her companing keeps!”
“Night in her mercy rocketh all life to sleep: and yet she hath none to help her through but me.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
இரா அளித்து= இவ்விரா அளித்தாய் இருந்தது; மன் உயிர் எல்லாம் துயிற்றி என்னல்லது துணை இல்லை= உலகத்து நிலைபெறுகின்ற உயிர்களையெல்லாம் தானே துயிலப்பண்ணுதலான் என்னை அல்லது வேறு துணை உடைத்தாயிற்றில்லை.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads this as the woman pitying the night. He begins இவ்விரா அளித்தாய் இருந்தது — this night is a thing to be pitied. Having put all the abiding lives of the world to sleep by her own doing, she has been left with no companion except me. The turn of the verse is that the person suffering directs her compassion outward, at the thing keeping her awake.