  As Queen Kau?alyÁ, trembling much, As blighted by a goblin's touch, Still lying prostrate, half awoke To consciousness, 'twas thus she spoke: “Bear me away, Sumantra, far, Where RÁma, SÍtÁ, Lakshma? are. Bereft of them I have no power To linger on a single hour. [pg 166]Again, I pray, thy steps retrace, And me in Da??ak forest place, For after them I needs must go, Or sink to Yama's realms below.” His utterance choked by tears that rolled Down from their fountains uncontrolled, With suppliant hands the charioteer Thus spake, the lady's heart to cheer: “Dismiss thy grief, despair, and dread That fills thy soul, of sorrow bred, For pain and anguish thrown aside, Will RÁma in the wood abide. And Lakshma?, with unfailing care Will guard the feet of RÁma there, Earning, with governed sense, the prize That waits on duty in the skies. And SÍtÁ in the wild as well As in her own dear home will dwell; To RÁma all her heart she gives, And free from doubt and terror lives. No faintest sign of care or woe The features of the lady show: Methinks Videha's pride was made For exile in the forest shade. E'en as of old she used to rove Delighted in the city's grove, Thus, even thus she joys to tread The woodlands uninhabited. Like a young child, her face as fair As the young moon, she wanders there. What though in lonely woods she stray Still RÁma is her joy and stay: All his the heart no sorrow bends, Her very life on him depends. For, if her lord she might not see, AyodhyÁ like the wood would be. She bids him, as she roams, declare The names of towns and hamlets there, Marks various trees that meet her eye, And many a brook that hurries by, And Janak's daughter seems to roam One little league away from home When RÁma or his brother speaks And gives the answer that she seeks. This, Lady, I remember well, Nor angry words have I to tell: Reproaches at KaikeyÍ shot, Such, Queen, my mind remembers not.” The speech when SÍtÁ's wrath was high, Sumantra passed in silence by, That so his pleasant words might cheer With sweet report Kau?alyÁ's ear. “Her moonlike beauty suffers not Though winds be rude and suns be hot: The way, the danger, and the toil Her gentle lustre may not soil. Like the red lily's leafy crown Or as the fair full moon looks down, So the Videhan lady's face Still shines with undiminished grace. What if the borrowed colours throw O'er her fine feet no rosy glow, Still with their natural tints they spread A lotus glory where they tread. In sportive grace she walks the ground And sweet her chiming anklets sound. No jewels clasp the faultless limb: She leaves them all for love of him. If in the woods her gentle eye A lion sees, or tiger nigh, Or elephant, she fears no ill For RÁma's arm supports her still. No longer be their fate deplored, Nor thine, nor that of Ko?al's lord, For conduct such as theirs shall buy Wide glory that can never die. For casting grief and care away, Delighting in the forest, they With joyful spirits, blithe and gay, Set forward on the ancient way Where mighty saints have led: Their highest aim, their dearest care To keep their father's honour fair, Observing still the oath he sware, They roam, on wild fruit fed.” |
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