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Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma

author, poet, teacher, and performer

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    • THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
    • The Safety of Edges
    • Give, Eat, and Live: Poems of Avvaiyar
    • Body and Earth
    • A Feast for the Tongue
    • Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo
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“Give, Eat, and Live” from Avvaiyar’s Nalvazhi | ஆண்டாண்டு தோறும் அழுது புரண்டாலும்

October 22, 2021

A poem about death—and life—from the 12th century Tamil woman, poet, and saint Avvaiyar.

Even if you wallow, weeping year after year,
Will those who have died come back?
                                                               You of this earth
Weep not. That too is our way. Till going, give
—what is it to us?—give, eat, and live.

Nalvazhi 10, “Andandu thorum purandalum.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
GIVE, EAT, AND LIFE: POEMS OF AVVAIYAR
Red Hen Press, Los Angeles

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