OUR CREED
By KANIAN - POOM - KUNRAN
(Translated
by P. N. Appuswami)
[Note:
This poem is from PURA-NANOORU, one of the earliest Tamil anthologies. The
author is Kanian-Poom-Kunran, which means the
‘Astrologer of the lovely, flower-clad hill’. The latter is apparently the name
of the capital town of a small principality of olden days. One other poem of
his has been included in the Sangham classics.]
Every
city anywhere
Is
our own native city;
And
every man upon this earth
Is
our kinsman by birth;
Evil
and good
Never
befall at all
At
any other’s bid;
Even
so, suffering and pain,
And deliverance therefrom.
Death
is nothing new, or strange.
We
cry not in joy,
‘Oh
sweet, how sweet is life !’
Nor
yet in disgust exclaim,
‘Life,
alas, is evil, too evil!’
Like
a frail and tiny craft
Caught
in the rushing waters
Of
a broad, wide river,
Which
swollen with the flood
Battles
against the rocks
With
a rumbling roar,
While
the clouds above
Flash
their brilliant lightnings,
And
pour down in showers
Myriad
drops of the cooling rain,
Even
so is the brittle bark of life
Swept
irresistibly along
Upon its predestined course.
This,
all this, we know,
Beyond
the shadow of a doubt,
From
the revelations
Of
the seers who know.
Hence,
We
praise not, not marvel at,
The
eminent and the great;
Nor
ever, ever, do we
Despise
the lowly and the weak.