Giving and Taking

I have attempted to put in English verse a prose translation of a poem by Tinnevaluva, a Hindoo poet of the third century of our era.

WHO gives and hides the giving hand,

Nor counts on favor, fame, or praise,

Shall find his smallest gift outweighs

The burden of the sea and land.

Who gives to whom hath naught been given,

His gift in need, though small indeed

As is the grass-blade’s wind-blown seed,

Is large as earth and rich as heaven.

Forget it not, O man, to whom

A gift shall fall, while yet on earth;

Yea, even to thy seven-fold birth

Recall it in the lives to come.

Who broods above a wrong in thought

Sins much; but greater sin is his

Who, fed and clothed with kindnesses,

Shall count the holy alms as nought.

Who dares to curse the hands that bless

Shall know of sin the deadliest cost;

The patience of the heavens is lost

Beholding man’s unthankfulness.

For he who breaks all laws may still

In Sivam’s mercy be forgiven;

But none can save, in earth or heaven,

The wretch who answers good with ill.

1877.