எலிஸபெத் பேரட் பிரெளனிங் (ஆங்கிலம்)
காதலின் பொருட்டே காதல்செய்
தமிழில் ஃ செந்தில்குமார்.
நீ என்னை காதலித்துதான் தீரவேண்டும் என்றால்,
காதலின் பொருட்டன்றி
வேறு எக்காரணமும் விழையாதே..
“நான் காதலிக்கிறேன் அவளை
அவளது புன்னகைக்காக,
அவளது தோற்றத்துக்காக,
அவள் பேசும் மென்மொழிக்காக,
அவளை நினைத்தாலே இனிக்கிறதே அதற்காக,
அன்று அற்புதமானதொரு இன்னுணர்வை
உண்மையில் பெற்றோமே அதற்காக”
என்றெல்லாம் சொல்லாதே.
இவையாயும் இயல்பிலேயே, என் அன்பே,
மாறக்கூடும். நீ பின் மாற்றவும்கூடும்.
காதலை இழைத்து இழைத்து செய்தால்,
காதல் இல்லாமலும் ஒழியவும்கூடும்.
என் கன்னத்தில் வழியும் நீரைத்துடைக்கவென இரங்கி
உன் பெருங்கருணையைக் காட்டுவதற்காக
என்னைக் காதலிக்காதே.
உன் சுகத்தை அனுபவித்து அனுபவித்து,
செளகரியம் நெடுநாள் நீள,
அழுகையையும் மறக்கக்கூடும் ஓர் பிராணி.
உன் காதலையும் இழக்கக்கூடும் அதனால்.
காதலின் பொருட்டே என்னைக் காதலி.
நீ முன்பினும் அதிகமாய்
என்னைக் காதலிக்கலாம்,
காதலின் நித்தியம்வரை காதலிக்கலாம்.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43736
Sonnets from the Portuguese 14: If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Related Poem Content Details
If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
I love her for her smile ... her look ... her way
Of speaking gently, ... for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'—
For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.
Sonnets from the Portuguese 38: First time he kissed me, he but only kissed
Related Poem Content Details
First time he kissed me, he but only kissed
The fingers of this hand wherewith I write,
And ever since it grew more clean and white,...
Slow to world-greetings...quick with its “Oh, list,”
When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst
I could not wear here plainer to my sight,
Than that first kiss. The second passed in height
The first, and sought the forehead, and half missed,
Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed!
That was the chrism of love, which love’s own crown,
With sanctifying sweetness, did precede.
The third, upon my lips, was folded down
In perfect, purple state! since when, indeed,
I have been proud and said, “My Love, my own.”
Sonnets from the Portuguese 38: First time he kissed me, he but only kissed
Related Poem Content Details
First time he kissed me, he but only kissed
The fingers of this hand wherewith I write,
And ever since it grew more clean and white,...
Slow to world-greetings...quick with its “Oh, list,”
When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst
I could not wear here plainer to my sight,
Than that first kiss. The second passed in height
The first, and sought the forehead, and half missed,
Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed!
That was the chrism of love, which love’s own crown,
With sanctifying sweetness, did precede.
The third, upon my lips, was folded down
In perfect, purple state! since when, indeed,
I have been proud and said, “My Love, my own.”
Four Poems
Kutti Revathi
http://www.asymptotejournal.com/special-feature/kutti-revathi-four-poems/
A Spectral Horse
The body for my friend is a kind of exhibit
A riddle without end for my sister
For my mother it’s enduringly sacred God’s dirt
For my father an asset to be protected and conserved
In the village pond entangled among the fish nibbling my body
that was when it opened by itself my body
they stole my innards and on lotus leaves rolled and
rolled and played with them calling them, “diamond dew-bubbles”
I’ve heard grandma say that the body for her was an ornament
For the tiger the body itself is wilderness
For my child it’s a never-setting sun
To the lover a lake where the lotuses bloom
For me my form is a spectral horse I straddle
my self isn’t locked up in any of my organs
on the horse of everyday feeling I see freedom
For me my form is a spectral horse I straddle
to bring the flown-away organs flying back
For me my form is a spectral horse I straddle
Not female not male not in woman
nor in man is this spectral horse I tend
Fish Tank
I was a fish tank the fry spoke with
soft lisping lips and circled inside me
this was not the sea restless by day or night
the hoary moss-covered pebbles were
rolled and nibbled by the little ones in their hunger
the tingling pain of dreams against the body
bubbles lifeless hitting the surface
that night and with it your extinguished manliness
made of me an ocean
and the fry struck the wall, my little ones
The Fiends that Fetter Us
sister . . . still many more breasts
for us to mould as if from clay
in this era when living breasts are bitten
by stones or by the tips of knives
they’re like the grain that feeds our world
but no fences to protect them
and why are birds of prey rooting in those silos?
eating sunshine straining to draw breath
from an arid field
that old woman’s breasts
fiends that fetter her
hanging low
knocking against the chest
like dried-up history beyond the borders on maps
not unlike those fiends that’s why sister
breasts like freshwater ponds to drink deep from
let’s not make them vessels of unending misery
for a day at least let’s make those breasts stones
to use in slings
let’s wander with a solitary breast
and carry our sun above us
Tigers
I a male tiger you a tigress
and with love’s coarse mouth nipping cupping
sharp nails impressing the skin clasping scratching
to one another we’ll reveal
the depth of our power
the tender leaves of your eyes
the forests will show them hiding
I’ll give you my body
invisible in the firmness of the trees
and in the nights when we join together
the desire I’d kept hidden until then
for you
will screech and squall from my throat
the smell of screwpine blossoms emanating as if
from inside me from my hidden zones only for you
Like a spring breaking from mountain rocks
milk sprouts from your chest
the little ones will come mouths clinging
neglecting love I’ll lie there
and when you’re no longer able
to hunt me
I’ll come back to caress you
I’ll run my fingers through your fur
and when you’re struggling to brook my presence
twitching to become my prey
I’ll hunt and finish you then
this is how I become the tigress
and you the male tiger
The body for my friend is a kind of exhibit
A riddle without end for my sister
For my mother it’s enduringly sacred God’s dirt
For my father an asset to be protected and conserved
In the village pond entangled among the fish nibbling my body
that was when it opened by itself my body
they stole my innards and on lotus leaves rolled and
rolled and played with them calling them, “diamond dew-bubbles”
I’ve heard grandma say that the body for her was an ornament
For the tiger the body itself is wilderness
For my child it’s a never-setting sun
To the lover a lake where the lotuses bloom
For me my form is a spectral horse I straddle
my self isn’t locked up in any of my organs
on the horse of everyday feeling I see freedom
For me my form is a spectral horse I straddle
to bring the flown-away organs flying back
For me my form is a spectral horse I straddle
Not female not male not in woman
nor in man is this spectral horse I tend
Fish Tank
I was a fish tank the fry spoke with
soft lisping lips and circled inside me
this was not the sea restless by day or night
the hoary moss-covered pebbles were
rolled and nibbled by the little ones in their hunger
the tingling pain of dreams against the body
bubbles lifeless hitting the surface
that night and with it your extinguished manliness
made of me an ocean
and the fry struck the wall, my little ones
The Fiends that Fetter Us
sister . . . still many more breasts
for us to mould as if from clay
in this era when living breasts are bitten
by stones or by the tips of knives
they’re like the grain that feeds our world
but no fences to protect them
and why are birds of prey rooting in those silos?
eating sunshine straining to draw breath
from an arid field
that old woman’s breasts
fiends that fetter her
hanging low
knocking against the chest
like dried-up history beyond the borders on maps
not unlike those fiends that’s why sister
breasts like freshwater ponds to drink deep from
let’s not make them vessels of unending misery
for a day at least let’s make those breasts stones
to use in slings
let’s wander with a solitary breast
and carry our sun above us
Tigers
I a male tiger you a tigress
and with love’s coarse mouth nipping cupping
sharp nails impressing the skin clasping scratching
to one another we’ll reveal
the depth of our power
the tender leaves of your eyes
the forests will show them hiding
I’ll give you my body
invisible in the firmness of the trees
and in the nights when we join together
the desire I’d kept hidden until then
for you
will screech and squall from my throat
the smell of screwpine blossoms emanating as if
from inside me from my hidden zones only for you
Like a spring breaking from mountain rocks
milk sprouts from your chest
the little ones will come mouths clinging
neglecting love I’ll lie there
and when you’re no longer able
to hunt me
I’ll come back to caress you
I’ll run my fingers through your fur
and when you’re struggling to brook my presence
twitching to become my prey
I’ll hunt and finish you then
this is how I become the tigress
and you the male tiger
translated from the Tamil by Padma Narayanan, Vivek Narayanan, and Kutti Revathi