Unmoved he answered: 'Queen, I strive to do My duty only, like the sages true; Nor would I, with a soul athirst for gain, All I can do to please my father, think Is that a son should do his father's will. By him unbidden, if the word thou give, Couldst thou no virtue in my nature see And comfort Sita. Thine the charge must rest That Bharat listen to his sire's behest, And keep the kingdom happy and secure : This is the law that ever shall endure.' In speechless woe the hapless father heard, And wept with bitter cry, but spoke no word. Then bowing at the senseless Monarch's feet, MOTHER AND SON. Rama goes from the presence of his afflicted father and exulting stepmother to pay a farewell visit to Kausalya, who is full of joyful anticipations on her son's account. On to his mother's splendid bower he went, And found the Queen on holy rites intent. There oil, and rice, and brimming vases stood, With wreaths of flowers, and curds, and cates, and wood. She with her thin cheek pale with many a fast, And many a night in painful vigil past, In linen robes of purest white arrayed, To Lakshmi Queen of Heaven her offerings made. Soon as she saw the darling of her soul, As a fond mare who springs to meet her foal, To greet her son, unseen so long, she flew, And round his neck her tender arms she threw : 'May all the glories of thy royal line,' She cried, with kisses on his brow, 'be thine. Be wise and mighty like thy sires of old, Then answered Rama, 'Dearest lady, know That danger threatens, fraught with mighty woe. My father's choice this day makes Bharat heir; And I must hence to Dandak's wood, and there Living on fruit and honey, hermit's food, Pass twice seven dreary years in solitude.' Swift as a Sal branch, by the woodman lopt In some primeval grove, the lady dropt ‘A grief more sore,' she cried, 'I ne'er could mourn If thou hadst never, O my son, been born; Yet, well I know, their childless fate, to those In endless woe and mourning doomed to pine? Without thy moon-bright face to cheer mine eye? |