D’imigh an Óige

Tá m’ucht creimthe
ag cíocha na mban ag cuimilt ina aghaidh.
Mo chraiceann cruaite
ag na coilm ghrá a d’fhág a n-ingne ann.
D’imigh an óige, chuaigh amú
faoi bhrú an phaisin.
Tá mo chuid gruaige ag titim amach,
táim bréan den rud ar fad.
Nílim in ann dul ar aghaidh i nguairneán an tsaoil seo,
A Dhia Kalahasti, fág mé gan
                                                  dúil.

Dhurjati

Youth has Gone

My chest has been worn away
by the breasts of women rubbing against it.
My skin has been roughened
with love scars from their nails.
Lost in the straining of passion, youth
has gone.
My hair has started falling out,
I’m sick of it all.
I can’t go on in this circling world,
God of Kalahasti, make me
                                        desireless.

Dhurjati
(16th century)
(Trans. Hank Heifetz & V. Narayana Rao, For the Lord of the Animals: Poems from the Telegu, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1987)