Canto 25
Hapless Soul
Guards as gave her no respite
Broke down Seetha in despair.
Seetha in time pulled herself
And thus explained her position.
It’s no custom for humans
To get wed to the demonic folk.
Stick I would to our tradition
Leave the rest to thy decision.
Having stated her position
Sulked then Seetha in distress.
Cornered as would deer hunted
Crouched there Seetha in dismay.
Like a withered leaf on floor
Lovelorn Seetha thus there lay.
Tears those profuse as she shed
Passed her valley in thick streams.
In her fright then her frail frame
Looked like banana plant in storm.
In her fear as shivered Seetha
Snake like shrivelled then her black plait.
Ceased as Seetha not to sigh
Blouse her wet then turned all dry.
In her pain then Seetha wailed
‘Oh my Rama where art thou’!
Why not thou me give consent
Now to die though love to live
To spend the rest of life with thee.
Won’t it prove the words of wise
One can’t time his death himself?
Takes as leaking boat its time
To sink down to the ocean bed
What if my grief kills me slow?
Seems my sorrow cuts my heart
Erode as floods the banks there all.
What else it’s but misfortune
To lose such a good husband.
Suffer I like the one who took
Arsenic on one’s way to death.
Looks like I am paying price
For the misdeeds of last birth.
See none escape route to Ram
Better I draw the curtains now
On the accursed life of mine.
How I forgot as his wife
Until he doth give his nod
Right none have I to take life!
Canto 26
Wandering Thoughts
Sense of respect for her man
Made her position all the worse.
Having lost her nerve in time
Cried she like a hapless child.
With the intent to snare me
Cruel Ravan lured my man
With that golden deer I craved.
That thy canny Ravan made
Me the captive of thee folk
Taunt as thou by sadist pranks
Intent have I none to live.
Of what avail is my life now
Useless since it’s to my Lord.
Seems my heart is made of steel
Or else grief mine sundered same.
Sans Ram life is leper like
Since I nurse it nonetheless
What a worthless woman am I?
What a man is my Lord Ram
Sans him what doth life portend?
How I wish thou kill me now
Bear I can this pain no more.
Not even with mile long pole
Touch I would that wretched Ravan.
Scorned by me as all the way
What a shameless man is he
So to crave for hand of mine?
No way I would turn to him
Why thou waste thy time on me?
Wonder how my wondrous man
Came to spare this beastly man!
On his own did slay my Lord
Demons fourteen thousand once.
What threat Ravan would then pose
To my Lord who killed those fiends?
He who slain Viradha then
Would he fail to save me now?
True it’s no mean task to come
To Ravan’s land in midst of seas
But can one ever stop my man?
Still I wonder why Rama
Fails to come to my rescue!
Looks like my Lord is clueless
Where his beloved wife is held,
If not for that wouldn’t he chase
Ravan all the way to hell?
When he took him in mid-air
Clipped as Jataayu’s wings Ravan
Who then Rama makes privy
It was Ravan that snared me!
How I owe my gratitude
To that noble bird so old
Who fought Ravan for my sake.
Should Rama get wind of me
Won’t he descend on this land
Whirlwind like to suck Ravan?
Won’t he turn on his wrath then
On the demonic Ravan’s force?
Won’t thus Lankan women all get
Measure for measure of my pain then?
One and all of Ravan’s men
Would find too hot to handle
Ram in battle with Lakshman.
Won’t all funeral pyres redden
Skies of Lanka for days on?
It’s all Ravan’s mindlessness
Brings which Lanka to the brink.
Won’t I see omens portend
Lanka’s fall in near future?
Bites as Ravan battle dust
Brings that Lanka to nadir.
As thy men all go to hell
Won’t thee then all pine for them?
With no male to caress thee
Wail all thee in every hearth.
Comes all this true when Rama
Learns here Ravan confines me.
Lands as Ram in hot pursuit
Ravan would have no respite.
Naïve is Ravan for he gloats
That he kept me on death row.
Won’t he shortly come to know
That he himself dug his grave?
Deserve demons no more now
Graves than mass in barren lands.
Having put a brave face thus
Gripped was Seetha yet by doubts!
Can I come to see my Ram
Should vile Ravan keeps his word
And gets served me for breakfast?
Might my Lord have thought I died
Or else wouldn’t he scan all earth?
Taking me for dead and gone
Man mine would have given up life.
Won’t he gladden gods all there
Stay with his in heaven of theirs?
Would a godly man like Ram
Need to keep his woman in mind?
Out of sight is out of mind
Maybe norm with all humans,
With his sense of fairness Ram
Won’t he cherish his life with me?
Wonder how I met this fate
Being wife of such great soul!
Turned as void for his loss
Why hanker for life I now?
Having lost the will to fight
What if Ram ’n Lakshman too
Penance to taken in despair!
Who knows wily Ravan didn’t
Contrive death of Ram and him.
See I no end of misery
Carry why now more of it?
Come I nowhere near yogis
For whom joys and sorrows
Meaning have none of their own.
But the rest all gloat fortune
And get shaken by hard times.
Ram as is not there to guide
Why not I take my own life?
