Skip to main content

Krishnadeva's Lament

O Saluva Timma, Mahamandaleshwara!
Should I ever have trusted you, you who were to me
As great and glorious as the Lord Venkateshwara?

When your dying king bid you blind his infant brother
You deceived him with goat's eyes, what evil treachery,
Saluva Timma, Mahamandaleshwara!

You saved me, you crowned this Krishnadeva emperor
And hold all the Coromandel as your demesne
As great and glorious as the Lord Venkateshwara?

My wealth, my victories, my imperial demeanour
I lay them all at your feet, if you would but ask me.
Saluva Timma, Mahamandaleshwara!

But now my son is poisoned; you stand charged with murder.
If it were proven true, how could you stand before me
As great and glorious as the Lord Venkateshwara?

The law says to blind you, whom I loved as a father
You who gave me glory, will you bear this infamy
Saluva Timma, Mahamandaleshwara,
As great and glorious as the Lord Venkateshwara?

Comments

Unknown said…
Superb! Is this your own or a translation from Kannada/Telugu? If Translation, can you pl share the source?
9 June 2013 at 8:40 am
Ozymandias said…
This is my original.
9 June 2013 at 12:38 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

बर्फी की शादी - बालकविता

बर्फी के घर में शादी है, दुल्हा उसका लड्डू है, माला उसकी किशमिश है, चूडी उसकी काजू है, बादाम उसकी बाली है, चाँदी की उसकी चुनरी है! यह कृति उमर बहुभाषीय रूपांन्तरक की मदद से देवनागरी में टाइप की गई है|
Post a Comment
Read more

She's complicated

She's complicated. She'll charm you with charts, statistics and that corporate smile. But look into those eyes, they're fiercely bohemian. She's complicated. Her chatterings seem to resonate with happy sounds, but listen with the other ear, to an unhidden lament. She's complicated. Her silences agonise, her voice echoes in her absence. And yet there is a mild dread as her name flashes on the ringing phone. She's complicated. Sometimes she's a poetess, shallow, romantic, trying to hide a sardonic, world-weary wit. She's complicated. She could be a spiteful Fury, wrath unabated, but that's just to hide the lamb-hugging girl within. She's complicated. She's an enchantress, a fool, a tyrant, a nurse, an imp, a priestess, but she's generally a good friend. She's complicated. Published in Making Waves - A Poetry Anthology , ed. Pam & Bill Swyers; Swyers Publishing 2011. ISBN: 978-0-9843113-6-1.
8 comments
Read more

Sunday is...

...a late morning, a tumbler of degree coffee, a birthday greeting to a friend (thank God for Facebook), another tumbler of coffee... ...a hot water bath, catching up on weekly politics, rice and bitter-gourd curry with jeera rasam and pickle, a long unhad siesta... one murukku made from old rice, ground by hand and made in coconut oil, one piece of jangri - not too sweet - washed down with hot degree coffee... a walk with the dog drongo-spotting in the garden, and old family stories with mother under the jamun tree... ...a little poem, a bit of light reading, and an interesting online chat on the Dhammapada... ...and finally an ascent to heaven with curd rice and vadu-mangay, before the fall to the netherworld of Monday.
3 comments
Read more