Longing for the Beloved
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kāṇkamaṟ koṇkaṉaik kaṇṇārak kaṇṭapi / ṉīṅkumeṉ meṉṟōṭ pacappu.
Let me only see him, and see him until my eyes are full; once I have seen him like that, the pallor on my arms will go of its own accord.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“O let me see my spouse again and sate these longing eyes! / That instant from my wasted frame all pallor flies.”
“Only let my eyes take their fill of the sight of my beloved: pallor will then no more be seen on my wasted arm.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
கண்ஆரக் கொண்கனைக் காண்க= என் கண்கள் ஆரும் வகை என்கொண்கனை யான் காண்பேனாக; கண்டபின் என் மென்தோள் பசப்பு நீங்கும்= அங்ஙனம் கண்டபின் என் மெல்லிய தோளின்கண் பசப்புத்தானே நீங்கும், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar turns the couplet round and puts the wish first: let me see him in such a way that my eyes are filled. He keeps the word for filling exactly where the verse keeps it, on the eyes, so what is asked for is not a sight of him but a sufficiency of it. Then the second half, and he adds a single word the couplet leaves out. The paleness on her soft arms will go, he says, of itself. She is not going to do anything about it. She has one thing to accomplish, which is to look for long enough, and the repair after that is not her work at all.