O Eelam Tamils!
O Eelam Tamils!
First of all, stop crying, lamentation is not meant for you.
Even if milk does not spring forth in the desert,
believe that an oasis will appear along the path.
Cast the habit of mourning out of your dictionary.
Pick up your tears with your fingertips
and flick them away!
Tear down and cast aside the garlands of sorrow
you have hung at your doorstep, declaring that life has ended.
Stop lowering your once sky-facing head
and wandering while staring at the ground.
What has happened to you,
you who possess the strength to endure even when the sky collapses?
Have you lost your smile over the pain of a mere scratch?
Do royal birds sing dirges
for the loss of a single feather?
Do fortress walls crumble when struck by pellets?
No matter how many sorrows come,
learn to face them
ignite the inner fire of fury
and spark a flame that lights your threshold.
O child of the storm!
Who, indeed, can ever lock you away?
It is true that your life has been somewhat damaged by the wicked.
But nothing is ever gained by wailing in despair.
Do not trees, stripped bare and left half-dead by summer,
burst into bloom and smile again when the month of Vaikasi arrives?
Let diamond-hard resolve flow
from the trees into your heart.
We are the ancient descendants of this land.
Ours is a lineage that wore crowns
long before the arrival of the Sinhalese.
O root that once spread along the banks of the Tamirabarani!
O chariot that once raced with the wind
along the shores of the Kadamba River!
Even if today you have lost everything,
you are one who rises again with renewed pride.
You are not grass to wither and burn away.
– Puduvai Ratnadurai Annai
Translation by Hari
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