Ramayana 2.324a

As thus Sumantra, best of peers, Told his sad tale with many tears, The monarch cried, "I pray thee, tell At length again what there befell." Sumantra, at the king's behest, Striving with sobs he scarce repressed, His trembling voice at last controlled, And thus his further tidings told: "Their locks in votive coils they wound, Their coats of bark upon them bound, To Ganga's farther shore they went, Thence to Prayag their steps were bent. I saw that Lakshman walked ahead To guard the path the two should tread. So far I saw, no more could learn, Forced by the hero to return. Retracing slow my homeward course, Scarce could I move each stubborn horse: Shedding hot tears of grief he stood When Rama turned him to the wood.(333) As the two princes parted thence I raised my hands in reverence, Mounted my ready car, and bore The grief that stung me to the core. With Guha all that day I stayed, Still by the earnest hope delayed That Rama, ere the time should end, Some message from the wood might send. Thy realms, great Monarch, mourn the blow, And sympathize with Rama's woe. Each withering tree hangs low his head, And shoot, and bud, and flower are dead. Dried are the floods that wont to fill The lake, the river, and the rill. Drear is each grove and garden now, Dry every blossom on the bough. Each beast is still, no serpents crawl: A lethargy of woe on all. The very wood is silent: crushed With grief for Rama, all is hushed. Fair blossoms from the water born, Gay garlands that the earth adorn, And every fruit that gleams like gold, Have lost the scent that charmed of old. Empty is every grove I see, Or birds sit pensive on the tree. Where'er I look, its beauty o'er, The pleasance charms not as before. I drove through fair Ayodhya's street: None flew with joy the car to meet. They saw that Rama was not there, And turned them sighing in despair. The people in the royal way Wept tears of bitter grief, when they Beheld me coming, from afar, No Rama with me in the car.