The Pallor of Longing
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pacappeṉap pērpeṟuta ṉaṉṟē nayappittār / nalkāmai tūṟṟā reṉiṉ.
If they will not go about saying that the man who won my consent has withheld his grace, then to be given the name 'pallor' is good enough for me.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“'Tis well, though men deride me for my sickly hue of pain; / If they from calling him unkind, who won my love, refrain.”
“It is good for me even to be twitted with the sallowness of my skin, if only they accuse not my beloved of cruelty.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
நயப்பித்தார் நல்காமை தூற்றார் எனின்= அன்று, தாம் குறைநயப்பித்துக் கூடினவர்க்கு இன்று நல்காமையை நட்டார் தூற்றார் ஆயின்; பசப்பு எனப் பேர் பெறுதல் நன்றே= பசப்புற்றாள் என வேற்றுமையான் அன்றிப் பசப்புத்தான் ஆயினாள், என ஒற்றுமையால் தாம் சொல்ல அ்பபெயரைப் பெறுதல் எனக்கு நன்று, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads this as the woman's own reckoning. The man who once persuaded her to accept his suit is now withholding his grace, and her friends could easily take that up and repeat it. She would rather they did not. If they will leave his conduct alone, she is content to be spoken of herself, and the commentary catches a fine point in how she is spoken of. They will not say that pallor has come upon her, which would keep her and it apart; they will say that she has become pallor, as one thing. To be named in that way, she says, is good.