Sítá's Doubt.

CANTO XXXII.: SÍTÁ'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 Ráma, 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 Ráma's name.
Each sight I see, each sound I hear,
Brings Ráma 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, Brahmá.

412:2 Vrihaspati or Váchaspati, the Lord of Speech and preceptor of the Gods.