THE RÁMÁYAN OF VÁLMÍKI, VOL. III - Gujarat Knowledge Centre

102 THE RAMJ^YAN. Book 111.
Their load of water mixt with gore.
Above, below, around were spread
Thick shades of darkness strange and dread.
Nor could the wildered glance descry
A point or quarter of the sky.
Then came o'er heaven a sanguine hue,
Though evening's flush not yet was due,
"While each ill-omened bird that flies
Assailed the king with harshest cries.
There screamed the vulture and the crane.
And the loud jackal shrieked again.
Each hideous thing that bodes aright
Disaster in the coming fight.
With gaping mouth that hissed and flamed.
The ruin of the host proclaimed.
Eclipse untimely reft away
The brightness of the Lord of Day,
And near his side was seen to glow
A mace-like comet boding woe.
Then while the sun was lost to view
A mighty wind arose and blew,
Ami stars like fireflies shed their light.
Nor waited for ;tb&dis|;an±- night
The lilies drooped, the brooks were driedy
The fish and birds that swam them died,
And every tree that was so fair
With flower and fruit was stripped and bare.
The wild wind ceased, yet, raised on high,
Dark clouds of dust involved the sky.
In doleful twitter long sustained
The restless SarikSs ' complained,
And from the heavens with flash and flame
Terrific meteors roaring came.
' Xha ^iirika ia the Maiaa, a bird like a utarliug.