Chapter XLII: The Sally

Still was the cry,'The Vanar foes
Around the leaguered city close.'
King Ravan from the terrace gazed
And saw, with eyes where fury blazed,
The Vanar host in serried ranks
Press to the moat and line the banks,
And, first in splendour and in place,
The lion lord of Raghu’s race.
And Rama looked on Lanka where
Gay flags were streaming to the air,
And, while keen sorrow pierced him through,
His loving thoughts to Sita flew:
'There, there in deep affliction lies
My darling with the fawn-like eyes.
There on the cold bare ground she keeps
Sad vigil and for Rama weeps.'
Mad with the thought, 'Charge, charge,' he cried.
'Let earth with Rakshas blood be dyed.'

Responsive to his call rang out
A loud, a universal shout,
As myriads filled the moat with stone,
Trees, rocks, and mountains overthrown,
And charging at their leader’s call
Pressed forward furious to the wall.
Some in their headlong ardour scaled
The rampart’s height, the guard assailed,
And many a ponderous fragment rent
From portal, tower, and battlement.
Huge gates adorned with burnished gold
Were loosed and lifted from their hold;
And post and pillar, with a sound
Like thunder, fell upon the ground.
At every portal, east and west
And north and south, the chieftains pressed
Each in his post appointed led
His myriads in the forest bred.

'Charge, let the gates be opened wide:
'Charge, charge, my giants,' Ravan cried.
They heard his voice, and loud and long
Rang the wild clamour of the throng,
And shell and drum their notes upsent,
And every martial instrument.
Forth, at the bidding of their lord
From every gate the giants poured,
As, when the waters rise and swell.
Huge waves preceding waves impel.

Again from every Vanar throat
A scream of fierce defiance smote
The welkin: earth and sea and sky
Reechoed with the awful cry.
The roar of elephants, the neigh
Of horses eager for the fray.
The frequent clash of warriors' steel,
The rattling of the chariot wheel.
Fierce was the deadly fight: opposed
In terrible array they closed,
As when the Gods of heaven enraged
With rebel fiends wild battle waged.
Axe, spear, and mace were wielded well:
At every blow a Vanar fell.
But shivered rock and brandished tree
Brought many a giant on his knee,
To perish in his turn beneath
The deadly wounds of nails and teeth.