The Kural or the Maxims of Tiruvalluvar/Chapter 121
CHAPTER 121
SIGHING FOR THE ABSENT ONE
HE
1201. Even in the recollection love is sweet with endless delights : love is therefore sweeter than wine.
1202. The moment I recall the image of my loved one to my mind, that very moment all my sorrow is vanquished : ah, love is dear in all its aspects !
SHE
1203. I was about to sneeze, but the fit passed away : is it that he was about to think of me but did not ? [1]
1204. Have I at all a place in his heart ? As for him, there is never a doubt but he abideth in mine.
1205. He excludeth me jealously from his heart : is he not ashamed then to show himself ceaselessly in mine ?
1206. It is but the recollection of our union that keepeth me alive yet : what else of life is there in me ?[2]
1207. Even with my memory full of him, my heart burneth within me : what then will be my case if I forget him ?
1208. How often soever I recall my beloved to my mind he will not be wroth with me : so much is the favour that my beloved bestoweth upon me !
1209. When my heart thinketh on his cruelty who once said, We are not two but only one life and soul, verily my life ebbeth away.
1210. O Moon ! set not in the horizon, I pray thee, till my eyes look again upon him who, abiding still within my heart, hath yet parted from me.
- ↑ Sneezing is believed to indicate that a friend or relative is thinking of the one who sneezes.
- ↑ The maid is to be supposed to have said, "As it is remembrance that causes thee all this sorrow, why dost thou not try to forget thy beloved for some time?" The text is to taken as the reply of the mistress to this supposed address.