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

246 THE R^MAYA N. Booh III.
A glory round her as she passed.
Then from each limb in swift descent
Dropped many a sparkling ornament-:
On earth thej rested dim and pale
Like fallen stars when virtues fail.'
Around her neck a garland lay
Bright as the Star-God's silvery ray:
It fell and flashed like Ganga seht
From heaven above the firmament.'
The birds of every wing had flocked
To stately trees by breezes rocked
These bowed their wind-swept heads and said
' My lady sweet, be comforted.'
With faded blooms each brook within
Whose waters moved no gleamy fin,
Stole sadly through the forest dell
Mourning the dame it loved so well.
From every woodland region near
Came lions, tigers, birds, and deer.
And followed, each with furious look,
The way her flying shadow took.
For Sitd's loss each lofty hill
Whose tears -^ere waterfall, and rill,
Lifting on high each arm-like steep,
Seemed in the general woe to weep.
When the great sun, the lord of day,
Saw R^vau tear the dame away,
His glorious light began to fail
And all his disk grew cold and pale,
' If Rivan from the forest flies
The spirits oi the gopd dwell in heaven until their store of accumu-
lated mei'it is exhausted. Then they redescend to earth in the form
cf falling stars.
' iSee The Descent of Qang^, Book I. Canto XLIV.