Book V. Canto Xxxii. S'it'a's Doubt
Canto Xxxii.: St'S Doubt.
Her eyes the Maithil lady raised
And on the monkey speaker gazed.
She looked, and trembling at the sight
Wept bitter tears in wild affright.
She shrank a while with fear distraught,
Then, nerved again, the lady thought:
'Is this a dream mine eyes have seen,
This creature, by our laws unclean?
O, may the Gods keep Rma, still,
And Lakshman, and my sire, from ill!
It is no dream: I have not slept,
But, trouble-worn, have watched and wept
Afar from that dear lord of mine
For whom in ceaseless woe I pine,
No art may soothe my wild distress
Or lull me to forgetfulness.
I see but him: my lips can frame
No syllable but Rma's name.
Each sight I see, each sound I hear,
Brings Rma to mine eye or ear,
The wish was in my heart, and hence
The sweet illusion mocked my sense.
'Twas but a phantom of the mind,
And yet the voice was soft and kind
Be glory to the Eternal Sire, 1
Be glory to the Lord of Fire,
The mighty Teacher in the skies, 2
And Indra with his thousand eyes,
And may they grant the truth to be
E'en as the words that startled me.'
p. 413
Footnotes
412:1 Svayambhu, the Self-existent, Brahm.
412:2 Vrihaspati or Vchaspati, the Lord of Speech and preceptor of the Gods.
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