Michael Madhusudan Dutt

“ He lookt but once, then shut his eyes, and, broken-hearted, said:
"The bed whereon, my darling son, Virbahu, thou hast lain,
Is glorious; for, in fighting for thy country thou wast slain.
"Thy bed is glorious: yet my heart doth not for glory care:
What booteth glory unto me, if thou art lost for e'er?
"This world, O Fate, is but the field of all thy sports below;
Why art thou pleased with having seen a mortal suffer woe?"
So saying, Ravan in his woe his eyes to seaward cast,
Beheld the bridge by Rama built, and slowly spake at last:
"O Sea! ”

“ Death-blows he dealt on ev'ry side, and dyed the battle-field."
The messenger stopt short in grief, for he could speak no more;
The Lord of Lanka wail'd and wept, deep-wounded in the core.
Then to his courtiers Ravan said: Come, from the house-top high
Look we upon Virbahu's death and soothe our eager eye." ”

“ They grin and grapple o'er your hearts and make your bodies bleed!
"The vultures pounce upon your flesh—I cannot bear it more!
The war-dogs and the war-hawks, too, will they thus suck your gore?"
There, in the midst of friends laid low, he found Virbahu dead ”