Pining and Complaint
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koṭiyār koṭumaiyiṟ ṟāṅkoṭiya vinnā / ṇeṭiya kaḻiyu mirā.
These nights, that go by so long now, are harder in their harshness than the hard man is in his.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“More cruel than the cruelty of him, the cruel one, / In these sad times are lengthening hours of night I watch alone.”
“The Night that passeth too slowly for me today is crueller in its cruelty than the cruel one himself.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
இந்நாள் நெடிய கழியும் இரா= காதலரொடு நாம் இன்புற்ற முன்னாள்களில் குறியவாய் அவர் பிரிவு ஆற்றேமாகின்ற இந்நாள்களிலே நெடியவாய்ச் செல்கின்ற கங்குல்கள்; கொடியார் கொடுமையின் தாம் கொடிய= அக்கொடியாரது கொடுமைக்கு மேலே தாம் கொடுமை செய்யாநின்றன.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
The couplet compares two harsh things and says which is the greater. In the earlier days spent happily with the beloved, Parimelazhagar writes, the nights were short; in these days, when she cannot bear his absence, they go by long. Those long-passing nights, he ends, are doing her a harshness that goes beyond the harshness of the hard man himself.