Kurunthokai – 30
Listen to me my friend! At midnight,
as an almost true false dream
of that expert liar hugging me tight
deceived and woke me up,
I caressed the bed;
Like a lily flower swarmed by bees
I wilt all alone; surely pitiable am I.
கேட்டிசின் வாழி-தோழி!-அல்கல்,
பொய்வலாளன் மெய் உற மரீஇய
வாய்த் தகைப் பொய்க் கனா மருட்ட, ஏற்று எழுந்து,
அமளி தைவந்தனனே; குவளை
வண்டு படு மலரின் சாஅய்த்”
தமியென்; மன்ற அளியென் யானே!
He has gone away to earn wealth. She pines for him and suffers. When her friend asks why she is so, she replies with this poem. “Listen to me my friend! At midnight I had a dream that he, the master liar was hugging me. It was so real that I believed it to be true, woke up and caressed the empty bed thinking it is him. But then I realised I am pitifully all alone. Like a lily flower swarmed by bees, I wilt and fade”
He is called a master liar, because he hasn’t come home as he had promised. After the bees have sucked honey off the flower and flown away, the flower wilts. His thoughts have sucked life out of her and when she wakes up and realises that it was a dream, she suffers similarly.
அல்கல் – night
பொய் வலாளன் – expert liar
மெய் – body
உறுதல் – embrace
வாய்த் தகை – truth like
மருள் – confuse / deceive
அமளி – bed
குவளை – lily flower
படு – to swarm
சாய்தல் – to grow thin / wilt
தமி – alone
மன்ற – surely / certainly
அளி – pitiable / wretched
யான் – I
Old Tamil Poetry 