ಮಾತಿಲ್ಲದಾದರೆ ಮನಸಿಗೆ ತಳಮಳ:
ಒಡುಕು-ಕೆಡುಕಿದೆ ಕಟು ಮಾತಿನಿಂದ;
ಭ್ರಾತೃತ್ವ-ಶತ್ರುತ್ವವು ದಿಟದ ಮಾತಿಂದ.
ಶಿಶುವಿನ ತೊದಲು ಮಾತು
ಮನೆಯೊಳಗೆ ಸಂತಸ ಮೂಡಿಸೆ,
ಕಲ್ಮಶ ಕುಟಿಲ ಬುದ್ಧಿಯ ನಗೆಮಾತು
ನವಪಾಶಾನ ತುಂಬಿರುವ ಶೀಶೆ !!
ಮಾತುಗಳು - ಬಣ್ಣದವು, ದ್ವೇಷದವು,
ಕುಹಕ-ಮೋಸದವು, ಸ್ನೇಹ-ಪ್ರೀತಿಯವು!
ಗರ್ಭದೊಳು ಒಳ-ಹೊರಾರ್ಥಗಳ - ಅವು
ಹುದುಗಿಸಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡು ನಾಲಿಗೆಯ ಮೆಲ್ಕುಣಿಯುವವು!!
ಮಾತಿಗೆ ಸೋತವರು
ಸೋತು ಮಾತನಾಡುವರು;
ಮಾತಿನೊಳಗಿಹುದು ಮಾನ
ಮಾತಿನಿಂದಲೇ ಹೋಗಿವೆ ಪ್ರಾಣ.
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The Life of Word (AI translation)
There is a depth within the heart
that only words can reveal;
and when words retreat into silence,
the heart trembles
beneath the weight of all it cannot say.
A careless word can fracture what years have built;
a bitter tongue can turn kin into strangers.
For in the breath of a word
live both—
the tenderness of brotherhood
and the fire of enmity.
A child’s first, faltering syllables
can fill an entire home with sunlight;
yet the honeyed laughter
of a crooked, poisoned mind
may hide a vial of venom
behind its smile.
Words wear many colours—
the colour of hatred,
the colour of deceit and mockery,
the colour of friendship,
the colour of love.
And deep within their womb
sleep meanings—
some revealed,
some concealed,
some never meant to be spoken—
until they rise,
alive and restless,
upon the tip of the tongue.
There are those
who lose themselves to words;
and having lost,
speak only from the ruins.
For a person’s honour
can dwell within a single word,
just as a single word
can strip it away.
Words have crowned the mighty,
broken the proud,
kindled wars,
severed bonds—
and sometimes,
with nothing but a breath
passing from one tongue to another,
they have taken a life.
