Lamenting at Evening
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kātala rilvaḻi mālai kolaikkaḷat / tētilar pōla varum.
With the one I love not here, evening comes the way strangers come into a killing-ground — with no bond to me at all, and with my life as its errand.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“When absent is my love, the evening hour descends, / As when an alien host to field of battle wends.”
“When the beloved is away, evening approacheth even as the executioner advancing to the execution-ground.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
மாலை= காதலர் உள்ளபொழுதெல்லாம் என்னுயிர் தளிர்ப்ப வந்தமாலை; காதலர் இல்வழி= அவரில்லாத இப்பொழுது; கொலைக்களத்து ஏதிலர் போல வரும்= அஃது ஒழிந்துநிற்றலேயன்றிக் கொல்லுங் களரியிற் கொலைஞர் வருமாறு போல அவ்வுயிரைக் கோடற்கு வாராநின்றது, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
All the time her lover was with her, this evening used to come in a way that made her life put out new leaves, Parimelazhagar explains. Now that he is not here, it has not merely stopped coming like that: it comes to take that life, as the killers come across a killing-ground. The sharpest part is the comparison itself — it arrives like someone who has no connection to her whatsoever.