Speaking with the Heart
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kaṇṇuṅ koḷaccēṟi neñcē yivaiyeṉṉait / tiṉṉu mavarkkāṇa luṟṟu.
If you are going to him, heart, take these eyes with you. Left here, set on seeing him, they eat me alive.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“O rid me of these eyes, my heart; for they, / Longing to see him, wear my life away.”
“If thou go to him, my Heart, take these eyes also along with thee! For they devour me in their longing to look on him.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
நெஞ்சே கண்ணும் கொளச் சேறி= நெஞ்சே, நீ அவர்பால் சேறலுற்றாயாயின் இக்கண்களையும் உடன் கொண்டு செல்வாயாக; இவை அவர்க்காணல் உற்று என்னைத் தின்னும்= அன்றி நீ சேறியாயின், இவைதாம் காட்சிவிதுப்பினால் அவரைக் காண்டல்வேண்டி நீ காட்டு என்று என்னைத் தின்பனபோன்று நலியாநிற்கும், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads the line as a condition. If you have set out for him, he has her say to the heart, then take these eyes along with you. And if you do not, the eyes in their hunger for the sight of him will demand that she produce him, and will gnaw at her as though they were eating her. The commentator keeps the violence of the image intact: it is not that they long, but that they feed.