• Skip to main content

Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma

author, poet, teacher, and performer

  • Books
    • 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
    • Other Writings
  • About
  • Speaking & Teaching
  • Events
  • News & Poems
  • Cozy Grammar
  • Contact
  •  

“What We Know: A Handful of Dirt” from Avvaiyar’s Thani Padal | கற்றது கைம்மண்ணளவு

September 30, 2021

Happy #internationaltranslationday!

Here’s a poem about knowledge, humility, and always continuing to learn, from the 12th century Tamil woman, poet, and saint Avvaiyar.

What we know: a handful of dirt. What we don’t:
The width of the world. The goddess of learning
Keeps learning.
                          So, poets, don’t bet and talk big.
The body of an ant, too, is eight spans.

“Katrathu kaiman alavu.”

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

More about the book
I’d like a copy!

  • YouTube
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn