this loud-mouthed town knows nothing of my fears for the hardship of his ways

People who know the way he went 

say: where he goes now, 

the Eyinar tribes with the bent bows 

whet the points of their arrows; 

crosses water-passes in the mountain 

which are like tunnels in an anthill; 

climb rocks 

hot as a blacksmith's anvil; 

and the road has many branches. 

 

                    But this loud-mouthed town 

                    knows nothing of my fears 

                    for the hardship of his ways, 

                    and taunts me             

                    for being lovesick. 

 

[Otalāntaiyār, 'What She Said', Kuṟ 12, from The Interior Landscape: Classical Tamil Love Poems, trans. from the Tamil by A.K. Ramanujan]