जीर्णपर्णसवर्णैककर्णदोलाधिरूढया । काष्ठताड्यजराभीतजीववृत्त्येव चिह्निता ॥ १५ ॥
jīrṇaparṇasavarṇaikakarṇadōlādhirūḍhayā | kāṣṭhatāḍyajarābhītajīvavṛttyēva cihnitā || 15 ||
Translation
and at last marked by a life that seemed to ride the swing of one ear, the colour of a withered leaf, as my head shook, a life in fear of old age that goes about with a stick to strike.
Word by word
- jīrṇa
- withered
- parṇa
- of a leaf
- savarṇa
- the colour
- ēka
- one
- karṇa
- ear
- dōlā
- the swing
- adhirūḍhayā
- that seemed to ride
- kāṣṭha
- with a stick
- tāḍya
- to strike
- jarā
- of old age
- bhīta
- in fear
- jīva
- life
- vṛttyā
- by a way of
- iva
- seemed
- cihnitā
- marked
Meaning
The end of that life: deafness, a shaking head, a stick. The ear, dry and yellow as an old leaf, swings with the trembling head; the life she is left with seems to sit on that swing. Old age is pictured with a stick, as one who strikes. Then the sentence that began at v. 5 ends, and nowhere in it, from youth to the stick, was there a moment for the question of v. 10.