Ramayana, Book 2, The

<SPAN name="toc283" id="toc283"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf284" id="pdf284"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-LXIV" id="CantoII-LXIV" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto LXIV. Dasaratha's Death.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The son of Raghu to his queen</div> <div>Thus far described the unequalled scene,</div> <div>And, as the hermit's death he rued,</div> <div>The mournful story thus renewed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“The deed my heedless hand had wrought</span></div> <div>Perplexed me with remorseful thought,</div> <div>And all alone I pondered still</div> <div>How kindly deed might salve the ill.</div> <div>The pitcher from the ground I took,</div> <div>And filled it from that fairest brook,</div> <div>Then, by the path the hermit showed,</div> <div>I reached his sainted sire's abode.</div> <div>I came, I saw: the aged pair,</div> <div>Feeble and blind, were sitting there,</div> <div>Like birds with clipped wings, side by side,</div> <div>With none their helpless steps to guide.</div> <div>Their idle hours the twain beguiled</div> <div>With talk of their returning child,</div> <div>And still the cheering hope enjoyed,</div> <div>The hope, alas, by me destroyed.</div> <div>Then spoke the sage, as drawing near</div> <div>The sound of footsteps reached his ear:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Dear son, the water quickly bring;</span></div> <div>Why hast thou made this tarrying?</div> <div>Thy mother thirsts, and thou hast played,</div> <div>And bathing in the brook delayed.</div> <div>She weeps because thou camest not;</div> <div>Haste, O my son, within the cot.</div> <div>If she or I have ever done</div> <div>A thing to pain thee, dearest son,</div> <div>Dismiss the memory from thy mind:</div> <div>A hermit thou, be good and kind.</div> <div>On thee our lives, our all, depend:</div> <div>Thou art thy friendless parents' friend.</div> <div>The eyeless couple's eye art thou:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Then why so cold and silent now?”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>With sobbing voice and bosom wrung</div> <div>I scarce could move my faltering tongue,</div> <div>And with my spirit filled with dread</div> <div>I looked upon the sage, and said,</div> <div>While mind, and sense, and nerve I strung</div> <div>To fortify my trembling tongue,</div> <div>And let the aged hermit know</div> <div>His son's sad fate, my fear and woe:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“High-minded Saint, not I thy child,</span></div> <div>A warrior, Daśaratha styled.</div> <div>I bear a grievous sorrow's weight</div> <div>Born of a deed which good men hate.</div> <div>My lord, I came to Sarjú's shore,</div> <div>And in my hand my bow I bore</div> <div>For elephant or beast of chase</div> <div>That seeks by night his drinking place.</div> <div>There from the stream a sound I heard</div> <div>As if a jar the water stirred.</div> <div>An elephant, I thought, was nigh:</div> <div>I aimed, and let an arrow fly.</div> <div>Swift to the place I made my way,</div> <div>And there a wounded hermit lay</div> <div>Gasping for breath: the deadly dart</div> <div>Stood quivering in his youthful heart.</div> <div>I hastened near with pain oppressed;</div> <div>He faltered out his last behest.</div> <div>And quickly, as he bade me do,</div> <div>From his pierced side the shaft I drew.</div> <div>I drew the arrow from the rent,</div> <div>And up to heaven the hermit went,</div> <div>Lamenting, as from earth he passed,</div> <div>His aged parents to the last.</div> <div>Thus, unaware, the deed was done:</div> <div>My hand, unwitting, killed thy son.</div> <div>For what remains, O, let me win</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Thy pardon for my heedless sin.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>As the sad tale of sin I told</div> <div>The hermit's grief was uncontrolled.</div> <div>With flooded eyes, and sorrow-faint,</div> <div>Thus spake the venerable saint:</div> <div>I stood with hand to hand applied,</div> <div>And listened as he spoke and sighed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“If thou, O King, hadst left unsaid</span></div> <div>By thine own tongue this tale of dread,</div> <div>Thy head for hideous guilt accursed</div> <div>Had in a thousand pieces burst.</div> <div>A hermit's blood by warrior spilt,</div> <div>In such a case, with purposed guilt,</div> <div>Down from his high estate would bring</div> <div>Even the thunder's mighty King.</div> <div>And he a dart who conscious sends</div> <div>Against the devotee who spends</div> <div>His pure life by the law of Heaven—</div> <div>That sinner's head will split in seven.</div> <div>Thou livest, for thy heedless hand</div> <div>Has wrought a deed thou hast not planned,</div> <div>Else thou and all of Raghu's line</div> <div>Had perished by this act of thine.</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Now guide us,”</span> thus the hermit said,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Forth to the spot where he lies dead.</span></div> <div>Guide us, this day, O Monarch, we</div> <div>For the last time our son would see:</div> <div>The hermit dress of skin he wore</div> <div>Rent from his limbs distained with gore;</div> <div>His senseless body lying slain,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >His soul in Yama's dark domain.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Alone the mourning pair I led,</div> <div>Their souls with woe disquieted,</div> <div>And let the dame and hermit lay</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page171"></span><SPAN name="Pg171" id="Pg171" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Their hands upon the breathless clay.</div> <div>The father touched his son, and pressed</div> <div>The body to his aged breast;</div> <div>Then falling by the dead boy's side,</div> <div>He lifted up his voice, and cried:</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Hast thou no word, my child, to say?</span></div> <div>No greeting for thy sire to-day?</div> <div>Why art thou angry, darling? why</div> <div>Wilt thou upon the cold earth lie?</div> <div>If thou, my son, art wroth with me,</div> <div>Here, duteous child, thy mother see.</div> <div>What! no embrace for me, my son?</div> <div>No word of tender love—not one?</div> <div>Whose gentle voice, so soft and clear,</div> <div>Soothing my spirit, shall I hear</div> <div>When evening comes, with accents sweet</div> <div>Scripture or ancient lore repeat?</div> <div>Who, having fed the sacred fire,</div> <div>And duly bathed, as texts require,</div> <div>Will cheer, when evening rites are done,</div> <div>The father mourning for his son?</div> <div>Who will the daily meal provide</div> <div>For the poor wretch who lacks a guide,</div> <div>Feeding the helpless with the best</div> <div>Berries and roots, like some dear guest?</div> <div>How can these hands subsistence find</div> <div>For thy poor mother, old and blind?</div> <div>The wretched votaress how sustain,</div> <div>Who mourns her child in ceaseless pain?</div> <div>Stay yet a while, my darling, stay,</div> <div>Nor fly to Yama's realm to-day.</div> <div>To-morrow I thy sire and she</div> <div>Who bare thee, child, will go with, thee.<SPAN id="noteref_337" name="noteref_337" href="#note_337"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">337</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>Then when I look on Yama, I</div> <div>To great Vivasvat's son will cry:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Hear, King of justice, and restore</span></div> <div>Our child to feed us, I implore.</div> <div>Lord of the world, of mighty fame,</div> <div>Faithful and just, admit my claim,</div> <div>And grant this single boon to free</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >My soul from fear, to one like me.”</span></div> <div>Because, my son, untouched by stain,</div> <div>By sinful hands thou fallest slain,</div> <div>Win, through thy truth, the sphere where those</div> <div>Who die by hostile darts repose.</div> <div>Seek the blest home prepared for all</div> <div>The valiant who in battle fall,</div> <div>Who face the foe and scorn to yield,</div> <div>In glory dying on the field.</div> <div>Rise to the heaven where Dhundhumár</div> <div>And Nahush, mighty heroes, are,</div> <div>Where Janamejay and the blest</div> <div>Dilípa, Sagar, Saivya, rest:</div> <div>Home of all virtuous spirits, earned</div> <div>By fervent rites and Scripture learned:</div> <div>By those whose sacred fires have glowed,</div> <div>Whose liberal hands have fields bestowed:</div> <div>By givers of a thousand cows,</div> <div>By lovers of one faithful spouse:</div> <div>By those who serve their masters well,</div> <div>And cast away this earthly shell.</div> <div>None of my race can ever know</div> <div>The bitter pain of lasting woe.</div> <div>But doomed to that dire fate is he</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Whose guilty hand has slaughtered thee.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus with wild tears the aged saint</div> <div>Made many a time his piteous plaint,</div> <div>Then with his wife began to shed</div> <div>The funeral water for the dead.</div> <div>But in a shape celestial clad,</div> <div>Won by the merits of the lad,</div> <div>The spirit from the body brake</div> <div>And to the mourning parents spake:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“A glorious home in realms above</span></div> <div>Rewards my care and filial love.</div> <div>You, honoured parents, soon shall be</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Partakers of that home with me.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>He spake, and swiftly mounting high,</div> <div>With Indra near him, to the sky</div> <div>On a bright car, with flame that glowed,</div> <div>Sublime the duteous hermit rode.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The father, with his consort's aid,</div> <div>The funeral rites with water paid,</div> <div>And thus his speech to me renewed</div> <div>Who stood in suppliant attitude:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Slay me this day, O, slay me, King,</span></div> <div>For death no longer has a sting.</div> <div>Childless am I: thy dart has done</div> <div>To death my dear, my only son.</div> <div>Because the boy I loved so well</div> <div>Slain by thy heedless arrow fell,</div> <div>My curse upon thy soul shall press</div> <div>With bitter woe and heaviness.</div> <div>I mourn a slaughtered child, and thou</div> <div>Shalt feel the pangs that kill me now.</div> <div>Bereft and suffering e'en as I,</div> <div>So shalt thou mourn thy son, and die.</div> <div>Thy hand unwitting dealt the blow</div> <div>That laid a holy hermit low,</div> <div>And distant, therefore, is the time</div> <div>When thou shalt suffer for the crime.</div> <div>The hour shall come when, crushed by woes</div> <div>Like these I feel, thy life shall close:</div> <div>A debt to pay in after days</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Like his the priestly fee who pays.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>This curse on me the hermit laid,</div> <div>Nor yet his tears and groans were stayed.</div> <div>Then on the pyre their bodies cast</div> <div>The pair; and straight to heaven they passed.</div> <div>As in sad thought I pondered long</div> <div>Back to my memory came the wrong</div> <div>Done in wild youth, O lady dear,</div> <div>When 'twas my boast to shoot by ear.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page172"></span><SPAN name="Pg172" id="Pg172" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>The deed has borne the fruit, which now</div> <div>Hangs ripe upon the bending bough:</div> <div>Thus dainty meats the palate please,</div> <div>And lure the weak to swift disease.</div> <div>Now on my soul return with dread</div> <div>The words that noble hermit said,</div> <div>That I for a dear son should grieve,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And of the woe my life should leave.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus spake the king with many a tear;</div> <div>Then to his wife he cried in fear:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“I cannot see thee, love; but lay</span></div> <div>Thy gentle hand in mine, I pray.</div> <div>Ah me, if Ráma touched me thus,</div> <div>If once, returning home to us,</div> <div>He bade me wealth and lordship give,</div> <div>Then, so I think, my soul would live.</div> <div>Unlike myself, unjust and mean</div> <div>Have been my ways with him, my Queen,</div> <div>But like himself is all that he,</div> <div>My noble son, has done to me.</div> <div>His son, though far from right he stray,</div> <div>What prudent sire would cast away?</div> <div>What banished son would check his ire,</div> <div>Nor speak reproaches of his sire?</div> <div>I see thee not: these eyes grow blind,</div> <div>And memory quits my troubled mind.</div> <div>Angels of Death are round me: they</div> <div>Summon my soul with speed away.</div> <div>What woe more grievous can there be,</div> <div>That, when from light and life I flee,</div> <div>I may not, ere I part, behold</div> <div>My virtuous Ráma, true and bold?</div> <div>Grief for my son, the brave and true,</div> <div>Whose joy it was my will to do,</div> <div>Dries up my breath, as summer dries</div> <div>The last drop in the pool that lies.</div> <div>Not men, but blessed Gods, are they</div> <div>Whose eyes shall see his face that day;</div> <div>See him, when fourteen years are past,</div> <div>With earrings decked return at last.</div> <div>My fainting mind forgets to think:</div> <div>Low and more low my spirits sink.</div> <div>Each from its seat, my senses steal:</div> <div>I cannot hear, or taste, or feel.</div> <div>This lethargy of soul o'ercomes</div> <div>Each organ, and its function numbs:</div> <div>So when the oil begins to fail,</div> <div>The torch's rays grow faint and pale.</div> <div>This flood of woe caused by this hand</div> <div>Destroys me helpless and unmanned,</div> <div>Resistless as the floods that bore</div> <div>A passage through the river shore.</div> <div>Ah Raghu's son, ah mighty-armed,</div> <div>By whom my cares were soothed and charmed,</div> <div>My son in whom I took delight,</div> <div>Now vanished from thy father's sight!</div> <div>Kauśalyá, ah, I cannot see;</div> <div>Sumitrá, gentle devotee!</div> <div>Alas, Kaikeyí, cruel dame,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >My bitter foe, thy father's shame!”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Kauśalyá and Sumitrá kept</div> <div>Their watch beside him as he wept.</div> <div>And Daśaratha moaned and sighed,</div> <div>And grieving for his darling died.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc285" id="toc285"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf286" id="pdf286"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-LXV" id="CantoII-LXV" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto LXV. The Women's Lament.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>And now the night had past away,</div> <div>And brightly dawned another day;</div> <div>The minstrels, trained to play and sing,</div> <div>Flocked to the chamber of the king:</div> <div>Bards, who their gayest raiment wore,</div> <div>And heralds famed for ancient lore:</div> <div>And singers, with their songs of praise,</div> <div>Made music in their several ways.</div> <div>There as they poured their blessings choice</div> <div>And hailed their king with hand and voice,</div> <div>Their praises with a swelling roar</div> <div>Echoed through court and corridor.</div> <div>Then as the bards his glory sang,</div> <div>From beaten palms loud answer rang,</div> <div>As glad applauders clapped their hands,</div> <div>And told his deeds in distant lands.</div> <div>The swelling concert woke a throng</div> <div>Of sleeping birds to life and song:</div> <div>Some in the branches of the trees,</div> <div>Some caged in halls and galleries.</div> <div>Nor was the soft string music mute;</div> <div>The gentle whisper of the lute,</div> <div>And blessings sung by singers skilled</div> <div>The palace of the monarch filled.</div> <div>Eunuchs and dames of life unstained,</div> <div>Each in the arts of waiting trained,</div> <div>Drew near attentive as before,</div> <div>And crowded to the chamber door:</div> <div>These skilful when and how to shed</div> <div>The lustral stream o'er limb and head,</div> <div>Others with golden ewers stood</div> <div>Of water stained with sandal wood.</div> <div>And many a maid, pure, young, and fair,</div> <div>Her load of early offerings bare,</div> <div>Cups of the flood which all revere,</div> <div>And sacred things, and toilet gear.</div> <div>Each several thing was duly brought</div> <div>As rule of old observance taught,</div> <div>And lucky signs on each impressed</div> <div>Stamped it the fairest and the best.</div> <div>There anxious, in their long array,</div> <div>All waited till the shine of day:</div> <div>But when the king nor rose nor spoke,</div> <div>Doubt and alarm within them woke.</div> <div>Forthwith the dames, by duty led,</div> <div>Attendants on the monarch's bed,</div> <div>Within the royal chamber pressed</div> <div>To wake their master from his rest.</div> <div>Skilled in the lore of dreaming, they</div> <div>First touched the bed on which he lay.</div> <div>But none replied; no sound was heard,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page173"></span><SPAN name="Pg173" id="Pg173" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Nor hand, nor head, nor body stirred.</div> <div>They trembled, and their dread increased,</div> <div>Fearing his breath of life had ceased,</div> <div>And bending low their heads, they shook</div> <div>Like the tall reeds that fringe the brook.</div> <div>In doubt and terror down they knelt,</div> <div>Looked on his face, his cold hand felt,</div> <div>And then the gloomy truth appeared</div> <div>Of all their hearts had darkly feared.</div> <div>Kauśalyá and Sumitrá, worn</div> <div>With weeping for their sons, forlorn,</div> <div>Woke not, but lay in slumber deep</div> <div>And still as death's unending sleep.</div> <div>Bowed down by grief, her colour fled,</div> <div>Her wonted lustre dull and dead,</div> <div>Kauśalyá shone not, like a star</div> <div>Obscured behind a cloudy bar.</div> <div>Beside the king's her couch was spread,</div> <div>And next was Queen Sumitrá's bed,</div> <div>Who shone no more with beauty's glow,</div> <div>Her face bedewed with tears of woe.</div> <div>There lapped in sleep each wearied queen,</div> <div>There as in sleep, the king was seen;</div> <div>And swift the troubling thought came o'er</div> <div>Their spirits that he breathed no more.</div> <div>At once with wailing loud and high</div> <div>The matrons shrieked a bitter cry,</div> <div>As widowed elephants bewail</div> <div>Their dead lord in the woody vale.</div> <div>At the loud shriek that round them rang,</div> <div>Kauśalyá and Sumitrá sprang</div> <div>Awakened from their beds, with eyes</div> <div>Wide open in their first surprise.</div> <div>Quick to the monarch's side they came,</div> <div>And saw and touched his lifeless frame;</div> <div>One cry, O husband! forth they sent,</div> <div>And prostrate to the ground they went.</div> <div>The king of Kośal's daughter<SPAN id="noteref_338" name="noteref_338" href="#note_338"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">338</span></span></SPAN> there</div> <div>Writhed, with the dust on limb and hair</div> <div>Lustreless, as a star might lie</div> <div>Hurled downward from the glorious sky.</div> <div>When the king's voice in death was stilled,</div> <div>The women who the chamber filled</div> <div>Saw, like a widow elephant slain,</div> <div>Kauśalyá prostrate in her pain.</div> <div>Then all the monarch's ladies led</div> <div>By Queen Kaikeyí at their head,</div> <div>Poured forth their tears, and weeping so,</div> <div>Sank on the ground, consumed by woe.</div> <div>The cry of grief so long and loud</div> <div>Went up from all the royal crowd,</div> <div>That, doubled by the matron train,</div> <div>It made the palace ring again.</div> <div>Filled with dark fear and eager eyes,</div> <div>Anxiety and wild surmise;</div> <div>Echoing with the cries of grief</div> <div>Of sorrowing friends who mourned their chief,</div> <div>Dejected, pale with deep distress,</div> <div>Hurled from their height of happiness:</div> <div>Such was the look the palace wore</div> <div>Where lay the king who breathed no more.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc287" id="toc287"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf288" id="pdf288"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-LXVI" id="CantoII-LXVI" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto LXVI. The Embalming.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Kauśalyá's eyes with tears o'erflowed,</div> <div>Weighed down by varied sorrows' load;</div> <div>On her dead lord her gaze she bent,</div> <div>Who lay like fire whose might is spent,</div> <div>Like the great deep with waters dry,</div> <div>Or like the clouded sun on high.</div> <div>Then on her lap she laid his head.</div> <div>And on Kaikeyí looked and said:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Triumphant now enjoy thy reign</span></div> <div>Without a thorn thy side to pain.</div> <div>Thou hast pursued thy single aim,</div> <div>And killed the king, O wicked dame.</div> <div>Far from my sight my Ráma flies,</div> <div>My perished lord has sought the skies.</div> <div>No friend, no hope my life to cheer,</div> <div>I cannot tread the dark path here.</div> <div>Who would forsake her husband, who</div> <div>That God to whom her love is due,</div> <div>And wish to live one hour, but she</div> <div>Whose heart no duty owns, like thee?</div> <div>The ravenous sees no fault: his greed</div> <div>Will e'en on poison blindly feed.</div> <div>Kaikeyí, through a hump-back maid,</div> <div>This royal house in death has laid.</div> <div>King Janak, with his queen, will hear</div> <div>Heart rent like me the tidings drear</div> <div>Of Ráma banished by the king,</div> <div>Urged by her impious counselling.</div> <div>No son has he, his age is great,</div> <div>And sinking with the double weight,</div> <div>He for his darling child will pine,</div> <div>And pierced with woe his life resign.</div> <div>Sprung from Videha's monarch, she</div> <div>A sad and lovely devotee,</div> <div>Roaming the wood, unmeet for woe,</div> <div>Will toil and trouble undergo.</div> <div>She in the gloomy night with fear</div> <div>The cries of beast and bird will hear,</div> <div>And trembling in her wild alarm</div> <div>Will cling to Ráma's sheltering arm.</div> <div>Ah, little knows my duteous son</div> <div>That I am widowed and undone—</div> <div>My Ráma of the lotus eye,</div> <div>Gone hence, gone hence, alas, to die.</div> <div>Now, as a living wife and true,</div> <div>I, e'en this day, will perish too:</div> <div>Around his form these arms will throw</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And to the fire with him will go.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Clasping her husband's lifeless clay</div> <div>A while the weeping votaress lay,</div> <div>Till chamberlains removed her thence</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page174"></span><SPAN name="Pg174" id="Pg174" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>O'ercome by sorrow's violence.</div> <div>Then in a cask of oil they laid</div> <div>Him who in life the world had swayed,</div> <div>And finished, as the lords desired,</div> <div>All rites for parted souls required.</div> <div>The lords, all-wise, refused to burn</div> <div>The monarch ere his son's return;</div> <div>So for a while the corpse they set</div> <div>Embalmed in oil, and waited yet.</div> <div>The women heard: no doubt remained,</div> <div>And wildly for the king they plained.</div> <div>With gushing tears that drowned each eye</div> <div>Wildly they waved their arms on high,</div> <div>And each her mangling nails impressed</div> <div>Deep in her head and knee and breast:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Of Ráma reft,—who ever spake</span></div> <div>The sweetest words the heart to take,</div> <div>Who firmly to the truth would cling,—</div> <div>Why dost thou leave us, mighty King?</div> <div>How can the consorts thou hast left</div> <div>Widowed, of Raghu's son bereft,</div> <div>Live with our foe Kaikeyí near,</div> <div>The wicked queen we hate and fear?</div> <div>She threw away the king, her spite</div> <div>Drove Ráma forth and Lakshmaṇ's might,</div> <div>And gentle Sítá: how will she</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Spare any, whosoe'er it be?”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Oppressed with sorrow, tear-distained,</div> <div>The royal women thus complained.</div> <div>Like night when not a star appears,</div> <div>Like a sad widow drowned in tears,</div> <div>Ayodhyá's city, dark and dim,</div> <div>Reft of her lord was sad for him.</div> <div>When thus for woe the king to heaven had fled,</div> <div>And still on earth his lovely wives remained.</div> <div>With dying light the sun to rest had sped,</div> <div>And night triumphant o'er the landscape reigned.</div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />