Drive away the darkness

 A good friend of mine gifted me a collection of verses by the noted Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathi on my birthday. That was several years back. Back then I knew only a few poems of Bharathi. Ever since I got the book edited by Seeni Viswanathan my interest in Bharathi developed to a great extent.  I was beginning to know Bharathi. To know how his mind worked. To know how sensitive he was as a being. To know how intense his poems were. Over a period of time many of his poems were committed to memory.  In recent times I had this sudden impulse to translate his poems.  Presented below is my English translation of  his blank verse titled The Sun. (வசன கவிதை- ஞாயிறு)

Oh. Sun! What is that you have done to darkness?

Have you driven it away?

Killed it? Swallowed it?

Planting kisses in a grand embrace.

Have you hidden it with your rays as hands?

Is darkness your foe?

Is darkness your food?

Is darkness your beloved?

Pining for you all through the night.

Has she lost her shine?

Seeing you. Is she possessed of your light and united with you?

Are you both of the same womb?

Have you been ordained to protect the earth coming one after the another?

Are you eternal? Are you the elixir?

I praise both of you

Oh Sun. I praise you

The blank verses (vasana kavithaigal) of Bharathi set the trend for much later attempts in Tamil poems which came to be known as Pudhu Kavithai.  A refreshing change developed in form and content of Tamil verses.

A light that was to drive away the darkness