was I not baffled

What He Said

O did I not think of you?
and thinking of you,
did I not think and think again of you?
and even as I thought of you
was I not baffled
by the world's demands
that held me to my work?

O love, did I not think of you,
and think of you till I wished
I were here to sate my passion
till this flood of desire
that once wet the branch of the tall tree
would thin
till I can bend and scoop a drink of water
with my hands?

Auvaiyār

Kuṟ 99

[from The Interior Landscape: Classical Tamil Love Poems, trans. by A.K. Ramanujan]