longer trod the royal street,
And thinking of his son he viewed
Men weak and worn and woe-subdued.
As sinks the sun into a cloud,
So passed he on, and wept aloud,
Within that house no more to be
The dwelling of the banished three,
Brave Rama, his Vedehan bride,
And Lakshman by his brother's side:
Like broad still waters, when the king
Of all the birds that ply the wing
Has swooped from heaven and borne away
The glittering snakes that made them gay.
With choking sobs and voice half spent
The king renewed his sad lament:
With broken utterance faint and low
Scarce could he speak these words of woe:
"My steps to Rama's mother guide,
And place me by Kausalya's side:
There, only there my heart may know
Some little respite from my woe."

The warders of the palace led
The monarch, when his words were said,
To Queen Kausalya's bower, and there
Laid him with reverential care.
But while he rested on the bed
Still was his soul disquieted.
In grief he tossed his arms on high
Lamenting with a piteous cry:
"O Rama, Rama," thus said he,
"My son, thou hast forsaken me.
High bliss awaits those favoured men
Left living in Ayodhya then,
Whose eyes shall see my son once more
Returning when the time is o'er."
Then came the night, whose hated gloom
Fell on him like the night of doom.
At midnight Dasaratha cried
To Queen Kausalya by his side:
"I see thee not, Kausalya; lay
Thy gentle hand in mine, I pray.
When Rama left his home my sight
Went with him, nor returns to-night."

Canto XLIII. Kausalya's Lament.

Kausalya saw the monarch lie
With drooping frame and failing eye,
And for her banished son distressed
With these sad words her lord addressed:
"Kaikeyi, cruel, false, and vile
Has cast the venom of her guile
On Rama lord of men, and she
Will ravage like a snake set free;
And more and more my soul alarm,
Like a dire serpent bent on harm,
For triumph crowns each dark intent,
And Rama to the wild is sent.
Ah, were he doomed but here to stray
Begging his food from day to day,
Or do, enslaved, Kaikeyi's will,
This were a boon, a comfort still.
But she, as chose her cruel hate,
Has hurled him from his high estate,
As Brahmans when the moon is new
Cast to the ground the demons' due.(318)
The long-armed hero, like the lord
Of Nagas, with his bow and sword
Begins, I ween, his forest life
With Lakshman and his faithful wife.
Ah, how will fare the exiles now,
Whom, moved by Queen Kaikeyi, thou
Hast sent i