A nDúirt Sí
Mamalatan
An é dáiríre nach bhfuil
a leithéid de rud ann
agus gealbhan binne
sa tír a bhfuil sé anois
dlúthchleiteach, dath duilleoga báite ag éag,
ag piocadh ar ghrán á thriomú sa chlos,
ag spraoi leis an míndeannach spréite
ón mbualtrach sráide
ina cónaí lena cuid scallamán
i scoilteanna an díontí
agus tráthnónta dearóile,
is uaigneas?
Mamalatan :
What She Said
Don't they really have
in the land where he has gone
such things
as house sparrows
dense-feathered, the coloor of fading water lilies,
pecking at grain drying on yards,
playing with the scatter of the fine dust
of the street's manure
and living with their nestlings
in the angles of the penthouse
and miserable evenings,
and loneliness?
Kuruntokai 46
tr. AK Ramanujan (from Tamil)