Sad Remembrance
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uḷḷiṉun tīrāp perumakiḻ ceytalāṟ / kaḷḷiṉuṅ kāma miṉitu.
Wine gladdens only while it is drunk. Love gives its great joy, undiminished, at the mere remembering — so love is sweeter than wine.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“From thought of her unfailing gladness springs, / Sweeter than palm-rice wine the joy love brings.”
“Even in the recollection love is sweet with endless delights: love is therefore sweeter than wine.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
உள்ளினும் தீராப் பெருமகிழ் செய்தலால்= முன் கூடியஞான்றை இன்பத்தினைப் பிரிந்துழி நினைந்தாலும், அதுபொழுது பெற்றாற்போல நீங்காத மகிழ்ச்சியைத் தருதலால்; கள்ளினும் காமம் இனிது= உண்டுழியல்லது மகிழ்ச்சி செய்யாத கள்ளினும் காமம் இன்பம் பயத்தலுடைத்து, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads the line as a comparison with a built-in test. Toddy gladdens a person only while it is being drunk; when the cup is done, the pleasure is done with it. The joy of love answers the test differently: in the days of separation, merely thinking of the union that once was brings a gladness as full as when it was present, and that gladness does not drain away. Since one pleasure must be held in the hand and the other returns whole at a thought, love, he concludes, is the sweeter of the two.