The Kural or the Maxims of Tiruvalluvar/Chapter 129
CHAPTER 129
THE IMPATIENCE OF THE PAIR TO FLY TO EACH OTHER'S ARMS
SHE
1281. Rapture at the very thought and delight at the mere seeing belong not to wine : they belong only unto love.
1282. When love exceedeth even the measure of a palmyra tree, the desire to sulk can never enter the heart even to the extent of a millet seed.
1283. Though he careth not for me and doth only as he pleaseth, my eyes will not rest unless they behold him.
1284. I wanted indeed to go away in a huff, my maid: but my heart forgot it and ran after union with the beloved.
1285. Even as the eye seeth not the blackness of the pencil when it is being painted, even so I see no blemish in my beloved when he is near.
1286. When he is before me I can see no faults in him: but when I see him not, I can see nothing in him but faults.
1287. Who will jump into a stream knowing that it hath a treacherous undercurrent that will carry him away ? and how should I take to sulking who know that I cannot hold on to it when he is near ?
1288. Wine is never unwelcome to the drunkard though it maketh him hang down his head in shame: even so is thy bosom to me, O false one!
HE
1289. Even tenderer than a flower is love : and few there be who know its delicacy and deal with it gently.[1]
1290. There were the sulks in her eye when she saw me : but when I approached, she flew to my arms even quicker than I myself to hers.
- ↑ Thou art not one of those few, as thou woundest me in thy sulks.