Page:Echoes from East and West.pdf/28

"So rude to such a golden isle, that decks thy sable breast
Like myriad-lightning'd Koustubh-gem upon young Madhav's chest?

"Throw off that chain! Throw off that chain! why with the bridge thus bound?
This isle is waste; in waters vast let all our foes be drown'd."

Then from the golden palace-top he came down with his men,
And 'mid the courtiers in the court did mount his throne again.

Pale as, nay paler than, a cloud, Chitrangada came there;
A creeping plant bereft of bloom, half-wither'd and half-bare.

She wore no trinkets in her grief; a simple dress she wore;
She lookt to Ravan, beat her breast, her golden ringlets tore.

For, stung at heart as with a dart, she could not ope her tongue
Like stork what time a snake, her nest approaching, eats her young.

The Lord of Lanka saw her face, he saw her face and wept,
The courtiers wept, the gateman too, of one so dear bereft.

And for a while a silence reign'd, an evil silence, there;
No nose did breathe, no lips did move, so sad the mourners were.