Poems/Written in Tamil, carried into EnglishOct 22, 2026

Kotravai

கொற்றவை

தமிழில் படிக்க↓

Your glance drew its sword and cut me clean off the stem.Your laugh was the coal, and I ran like ore.You pushed the gate, crossed the hall, and came in,and I gave you the room I had shut before.

In this sweet war I am killed at every dawnand raised by evening to sit down and eat.The only victory the field allows is yielding,so I became the ballad of my own defeat.

And if this life of mine, which is yours, should die,your nectar will reach it and raise it anew.Kotravai, goddess of the field that is won —the victory I surrendered for is you.

தமிழ்

விழிவாளில் கொய்தெடுத்துநகைக்கனலில் உளம் உருக்கிபுறந்தள்ளி என் அகம் நுழைந்தநின்னைச் சரணடைந்தேன்…

இன்சமரில் நித்தம் மரித்துஇச்சமரில் சரணே வெற்றி என பரணியானேன்…

நின்-என்னுயிர் மரித்திடிலும்நின்னமிர்தத்தில் மீட்டெழுப்பும் வெற்றிக் கொற்றவை நீயே ❤️

Kotravai
கொற்றவை is the Sangam goddess of the battlefield and of victory, and a பரணி is the ballad sung after it is won — both borrowed here from புறம், the war side of Tamil poetry, and walked over into அகம், the love side, which is what the third line does on purpose. The second stanza eats in Valhalla, where the chosen slain fall every day and are raised every evening to the table. நித்தம் மரித்து is that same arithmetic, moved into the அகம், a war one room wide. மீட்டெழுப்பும் is the verb that raises, and மீட்பு is still the Tamil word for redemption. The இன்சமர்/இச்சமர் turn sits one sound apart in Tamil and nowhere near it in English.
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