My dear Miriam

I try my hand at translation now and then. So this is my version of the song Mayakkam enathu thayagam from Kunkumam. I have tried to retain the essence of the song, without trying a word by word translation. The original is by Kannadasan.


My dear lovely Miriam,
Who cares for me so well.
An unfortunate man I am,
Listen to the story I tell.

Dazed, I dwell
permanently in the state of confusion.
Choked, by sorrow,
silence is the language I speak often.
Tragedy alone,
reigns supreme in my composition.
Alas, I am
just a portrait of lamentation.

Noble though your intention be,
Stop trying to make sense of me.
My life is a riddle impossible to solve.
A Gordian Knot that God alone can resolve.
I am my own foe my dear,
The only enemy I fear.
I enact the play I have written.
But honey, I also am the curtain.

That destiny takes one,
where sagacity won’t,
is life’s prime lesson.
This I have learnt.

My feelings for you are not spurious.
But the ways of fate are mysterious.
It overtakes me fast and furious.
And blocks my path to you , my precious.

Forget me my dear Miriam.
A very unfortunate man I am.