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Book Iii. Canto Lxiii. R'ama's Lament

Canto Lxiii.: Rma'S Lament.


Thus for his wife in vain he sought:

Then, his sad soul with pain distraught,

The hero of the lotus eyes

Filled all the air with frantic cries.

O'erpowered by love's strong influence, he

His absent wife still seemed to see,

And thus with accents weak and faint

Renewed with tears his wild complaint:

'Thou,fairer than their bloom, my spouse,

Art hidden by As'oka boughs.

Those blooms have power to banish care,

But now they drive me to despair.

Thine arms are like the plantain's stem:

Why let the plantain cover them?

Thou art not hidden, love; thy feet

betray thee in thy dark retreat.

Thou runnest in thy girlish sport

To flowery trees, thy dear resort.

But cease, O cease, my love, I pray,

To vex me with thy cruel play.

Such mockery in a holy spot

Where hermits dwell beseems thee not.

Ah, now I see thy fickle mind

To scornful mood too much inclined,

Come, large-eyed beauty. I implore;

Lone is the cot so dear before.

No, she is slain by giants; they

Have stolen or devoured their prey,

Or surely at my mournful cry

My darling to her lord would fly.

O Lakshman, see those troops of deer:

In each sad eye there gleams a tear.

Those looks of woe too clearly say

My consort is the giants' prey.

O noblest, fairest of the fair,

Where art thou. best of women, where?

This day will dark Kaikey find

Fresh triumph for her evil mind,

When I, who with my St came

Return alone, without my dame.

But ne'er can I return to see

Those chambers where my queen should be

And hear the scornful people speak

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Of Rma as a coward weak.

For mine will be the coward's shame

Who let the foeman steal his dame.

How can I seek my home, or brook

Upon Videha's king to look?

How listen, when he bids me tell,

My wanderings o'er, that all is well?

He, when I meet his eager view,

Will mark that St comes not too,

And when he hears the mournful tale

His wildered sense will reel and fail.

'O Das'aratha.' will he cry,

'Blest in thy mansion in the sky!'

Ne'er to that town my steps shall bend,

That town which Bharat's arms defend,

For e'en the blessed homes above

Would seem a waste without my love.

Leave me, my brother, here, I pray;

To fair Ayodhy bend thy way.

Without my love I cannot bear

To live one hour in blank despair.

Round Bharat's neck thy fond arms twine,

And greet him with these words of mine:

'Dear brother, still the power retain,

And o'er the land as monarch reign.'

With salutation next incline

Before thy mother, his, and mine.

Still, brother, to my words attend,

And with all care each dame befriend.

To my dear mother's ear relate

My mournful tale and St's fate.'

Thus Rma gave his sorrow vent,

And from a heart which anguish rent,

Mourned for his wife in loud lament,-

Her of the glorious hair,

From Lakshman's cheek the colour fled,

And o'er his heart came sudden dread,

Sick, faint, and sore disquieted

By woe too great to bear.
ptolemy's life| tetrabiblo
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