2022-11-19

A nDúirt Sé

 A nDúirt Sé

Is álainn iad a géaga
mar bhambú a luascann go mall.
A súile ag cur thar maoil le séimhe.
Tá sí i gcéin,
is deacair teacht ar a háit.
 
Ar mire atá mo chroí
le deabhadh,
treabhadóir is damh amháin aige
an talamh fliuch báite
ag tnúth le síol.

Oreruravanar


What he said 

Her arms have the beauty
of a gently moving bamboo.
Her eyes are full of peace.
She is faraway,
her place not easy to reach.
 
My heart is frantic
with haste,
a plowman with a single ox
on land all wet
and ready for seed.

Oreruravanar (c. 1st-3d c. AD),
tr. AK Ramanujan (from Tamil)
Meena Alexander (ed.)