ABOUT THE POEM:
It is a translated version of an engrossing poem from Tamil literature, REAL ACCOMPLISHMENT. It is all about what the girl's friend told the deceitful husband. She argues that real accomplishment is not residing in a fertile country where the yield of crops and the availability of seafood are in plenty. Further, she adds riding in speedy chariots and acquiring wealth in abundance are the consequence of past deeds. According to the girl, what the scholars call true achievement is a delicate response to their countrymen's anguish and misery.
REAL ACCOMPLISHMENT
Oh! Laudable lad,
residing in the country
where the farmers
furrow their wet fields
not long after the harvest
to plant seeds for the following season
get back with their seed receptacles
loaded up with fish,
consider my words:
it isn't abundance
to acquire eminence
and ride in speedy chariots
are the consequence of past deeds.
but the scholars call real accomplishment
is a delicate benevolence
to the agony and misery
of their compatriots.
(what the girl's friend told the deceitful husband)
