It could be today or tomorrow
It could be today or tomorrow
Otherwise, it will happen after a few more days
That day, I will die and lay on the bed
People will cry around me.
A few people I know will gather and talk as they imagine.
The warm daughter will come home
The little girl in the house will cry out, ‘father’
The child I am raising for Kolli will run away and cry and set fire to my body
My wife will be destroyed
No shadow will rest. For four or five days, no one will speak.
Then, only a few will speak.
That too will be for a short time, but what will happen after that?
Nothing will happen. My name will be dissolved in the rain of time
and I will slowly, slowly disappear.
The golden garlands of the spring
the garlands of my house will bloom and flow.
All the summer flowers will be undressed and disheveled.
The old ones will fall off.
New shoots will be born and speak.
No one will remember me who laughs.
‘This life’ will end without any trace of what came, what was, and what went.
Only this I know, this is who I am.
– Puthuvai Ratnathurai
(Translation by Tamilpriya)
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