Classic Poem

Of strength hard to overcome . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Other than the bottle flower,
the golden jasmine, the wild lime, and the wild jasmine,
there are no flowers. Except for the common millet with
its black stems, and large-eared millet and the small vine
of horse gram and the spotted bean plant, there is no food.
Other than the Tutiyan drummers and the Panan singers
and the Paraiyans and the Katampans, there are no castes.
Except for memorial stones revered for the men who stood
their ground before oncoming enemies and repelled them, slaying
elephants with high gleaming tusks, and then died,
no gods are to be worshiped with paddy poured out before them.