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CANTO V
1. Thereupon as the ocean surged up ever more as did the emotion of love, at the sight of the moon, it seemed to Rama that the night, too, began to lengthen, overcome as he was with the grief of separation from Sītā.
2. The sky, with the rising moon, swelled overmuch the waters of the ocean, wrapped in moonlight; while the beach, with Rāma observing his vow, heightened their splendour.
3. Outbursts of grief, constant in his forlorn state, and strong enough to disquiet his heart, bent on the vow, marred his recurring efforts to maintain his fortitude.
4. He grieved as he thought, 'Will the ocean do a favour? Will the moonlight decayz? Will the night cease? Is my beloved perchance alive, or, would she deprive me of my life?
5. He reproached the moonbeams; suffered because of the flower-arrowed god, and hated the night. Even though languid, he languished still more even as he asked Hanumat, 'Is my beloved haply alive?'
6. He valued the southern region, because she lived thereabout;s the moon, because she verily reproached it:4 the earth, because she reposed thereon; and the sky, because she was carried off athwart it.5
7. The watches of the night vanished with his patience. The fleeting counsel (of his friends) faded away along with his fortitude. His arms drooped as did his spirits, and incoherent utterances issued forth along with his tears.
8. He consoled himself, because she was patient; fainted as he recalled that she was too feeble to endure the pangs of love;
1. Undertaken to induce the ocean to yield a passage to Lanka, 2. As a virahin he is impatient of the moonlight. 3. i.e., in Lankā.
4. i.e., tolerated the unpleasant moon, because it was censured by Sīta as she pined for him.
5. i.e., by Rāvana.
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