Looking for your light,
I went out:
it was like the sudden dawn
of a million million suns,
a ganglion of lightnings
for my wonder.
O Lord of Caves,
if you are light,
there can be no metaphor.
– Allama
Translated by A. K. Ramanujam
Postscript:
Apologies for the late post today.
This is from Songs of Siva, a translation of Kannada Saivite poetry by Ramanujam. It’s very evocative, and reminds me of Dickinson and Rilke.
You can read other poems by Ramanujam on this site here; Instead of a Farewell, Self Portrait, and Extended Family. You can read a poem from Tamil translated by him that we’ve run earlier, titled This World Lives.
Tagged: A.K. Ramanujam, Allama, imagery, Kannada, mystic, religion, translation