Ramayan Part 18 - Dasaratha's Last Moments Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

Back the charioteer Sumantra,
Returned to the city, Ayodhya,
Broke the sad news slowly,
In the people held assembly.

On both sides of the streets,
The wailing women’s shouts,
Filled the gloomy air of the city,
Moving the men’s hearts in pity.

Dasaratha was dumb-found,
Lying ugly still on the ground,
All the queens sitting around
In circle deep-grief-bound.

“Can any one borrow,
My heart-filled sorrow?
Lo, you kept your promise
At some one’s expense.”

For this Kausalya’s lament,
The half-dead king couldn’t
Find an answer or repent,
And he still remained silent.

He mustered his strength,
And told her at length,
The curse of a grieving sage,
He got in his young age.

“I can aim by the ear,
And shoot as I hear
Any animal coming near,
By the skill of mine mere.”

“Once in my hunt,
An arrow I sent
At the sound near
The Sarayu River.”

“I thought it was a sound,
Of an elephant around,
Drinking the river water,
Not far off, but near.”

“Alas, the voice of a lad,
As he cried aloud I heard.
I realized, he was the target,
Of my fatal shot that hit.”

“Before breathing his last,
He told of his parents’ thirst,
And to give the water pot,
I should rush to their spot.”

“His parents blind,
Were eager to find,
The reasons for delay
In the water supply.”

“When I told them in brief,
They fell down with grief,
No words could be found,
As I remained spell bound.”

“To the river bank I carried
Both where the lad lay dead,
They felt his body by touch,
And cried aloud too much.”

“In his burning funeral pyre,
Both jumped o’er the fire,
Cursing me that I shall die,
Parted from my son similarly.”

“A childless father I was,
Their heartburn curse,
It was a blessed boon
To get me a son soon.”

“The curse now played its role,
This is the sad story whole,
In grief I’m ill-fated to die,
No other reason for us to sigh.”

Does the Time care anyone?
The night slowly passed on.
He went into an eternal sleep,
For his survivors life-long weep.