THE EXCELLENCE
OF LOVE
Tiruvalluvar
(Translated from the TAMIL Kural by K. Srinivasan)
To each hungering sense, from eye to touch,
Love is a feast of delight rare.
Other ills are by other drugs cured,
But Love is cured by Love itself
Have the Heavens a greater joy to give
Than sleep in the arms of the Beloved?
Cool when near, scorching when far away,
Whence got she this strange fire?
Rich in the yield of delights are her arms,
Rich with the joy of each fabled dream.
Her arms the quintessence of nectar bear,
With each new embrace Life comes to me anew.
Soul-touching is the joy of requited love,
Like wealth enjoyed after every debt is paid.
Sweeter than other delights of heaven of earth
Is uninterrupted company to the loving pair.
The sulk, the protest, and the final embrace,
Are but stages in Love’s daily rush.
Each new embrace yields new delights,
As old poems when read and re-read anew.
(Reprinted from the TRIVENI, 1933)