ABOUT THE POEM:
This is a translated version of an enchanting poem THE CHIMING CHARIOT from Tamil literature. The colophon says that this is the personal rambling of a wife whose husband is yet to come home in his chiming chariot. In the course of the poem, she expresses her concern about the absence of the reassuring message of his coming home, through the tinkling of the chariot's bell from afar, while the other farmers are returning home with baskets filled with flowers.
THE CHIMING CHARIOT
The merry peasants
who went to cultivate their fields
are retreating back home,
their seed bushels
loaded up with new blossoms.
twilight has engulfed the landscapes.
However, no reassuring message
of my better half's chariot
whose split-mouthed little chimes,
made from molds of wax,
and fashioned in a furnace,
continue to tinkle
while crossing the desolate terrains
and going through the bushes
while bringing my sweetheart home
for the sumptuous feast
