Ramayana, Epic of Rama, Prince of India

IV. The Meeting of the Princes - 70
Not on thee, nor on thy mother, rests the censure or the blame,
Faithful to his father’s wishes Rama to the forest came,
[69] For the son and duteous consort serve the father and the lord,
Higher than an empire’s glory is a father’s spoken word!
All inviolate is his mandate, – on Ayodhya’s jewelled throne,
Or in pathless woods and jungle Rama shall his duty own,
All inviolate is the blessing by a loving mother given,
For she blessed my life in exile like a pitying saint of heaven!
Thou shalt rule the kingdom, Bharat, guard our loving people well,
Clad in mild bark and in deer-skin I shall in the forests dwell,
So spake saintly Dasa-ratha in Ayodhya’s palace hall,
And a righteous father’s mandate duteous son may not recall!
III. Kausalya’s Lament and Rama’s Reply
Slow and sad with Saint Vasishtha, with each widowed royal dame,
Unto Rama’s hermit-cottage ancient Queen Kausalya came,
And she saw him clad in wild bark like a hermit stern and high,
And an anguish smote her bosom and a tear bedewed her eye.
Rama bowed unto his mother and each elder’s blessings sought,
Held their feet in salutation with a holy reverence fraught,
And the queens with loving fingers, with a mother’s tender care,
Swept the dust of wood and jungle from his head and bosom fair,
Lakshman too in loving homage bent before each royal dame,
And they blessed the faithful hero spotless in his righteous fame.
Lastly came the soft-eyed Sita with obeisance soft and sweet,
And with hands in meekness folded bent her tresses to their feet,
Pain and anguish smote their bosoms, round their Sita as they prest,
As a mother clasps a daughter, clasped her in their loving breast!
[70] Torn from royal hall and mansion, ranger of the darksome wood,
Reft of home and kith and kindred by her forest hut she stood!