Poem
Malathi Maithri
Large As the World
By some turn, obscure, of the season,Each part of my body turned
Into an animal or bird; and began
To wander away from my side
A few returned on their own
Oftentimes, they were tracked
And brought home like lost sheep
Then they left again, as if on pilgrimage
Thus, routinely straying, they began
To roam in all of Time’s expanse
Now, it is a long time since
They went their several ways
In search of water and land
I am unable to know
Or guess which part
Might now be traipsing
Down which way
On their return home, laden with the scents
And voices of different lands,
They graze all over my body,
Shuffling and rearranging my identity
Some girls who went to gather
Firewood in the jungle
Returned to say that they had sighted
My vagina as a butterfly,
Flitting about among the hills
© Translation: 2008, N. Kalyan Raman
LARGE AS THE WORLD
© 2003, Malathi Maithri
From: Neerindri Amaiyaathu Ulagu
Publisher: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil
From: Neerindri Amaiyaathu Ulagu
Publisher: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil
Poems
Poems of Malathi Maithri
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Large As the World
By some turn, obscure, of the season,Each part of my body turned
Into an animal or bird; and began
To wander away from my side
A few returned on their own
Oftentimes, they were tracked
And brought home like lost sheep
Then they left again, as if on pilgrimage
Thus, routinely straying, they began
To roam in all of Time’s expanse
Now, it is a long time since
They went their several ways
In search of water and land
I am unable to know
Or guess which part
Might now be traipsing
Down which way
On their return home, laden with the scents
And voices of different lands,
They graze all over my body,
Shuffling and rearranging my identity
Some girls who went to gather
Firewood in the jungle
Returned to say that they had sighted
My vagina as a butterfly,
Flitting about among the hills
© 2008, N. Kalyan Raman
From: Neerindri Amaiyaathu Ulagu
From: Neerindri Amaiyaathu Ulagu
Large As the World
By some turn, obscure, of the season,Each part of my body turned
Into an animal or bird; and began
To wander away from my side
A few returned on their own
Oftentimes, they were tracked
And brought home like lost sheep
Then they left again, as if on pilgrimage
Thus, routinely straying, they began
To roam in all of Time’s expanse
Now, it is a long time since
They went their several ways
In search of water and land
I am unable to know
Or guess which part
Might now be traipsing
Down which way
On their return home, laden with the scents
And voices of different lands,
They graze all over my body,
Shuffling and rearranging my identity
Some girls who went to gather
Firewood in the jungle
Returned to say that they had sighted
My vagina as a butterfly,
Flitting about among the hills
© 2008, N. Kalyan Raman
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