कैसे पितु-मातु, कैसे ते प्रिय-परिजन हैं? जगजलधि ललाम, लोने लोने, गौर-स्याम, जिन पठए हैं ऐसे बालकनि बन हैं॥ १ ॥ रूपके न पारावार, भूपके कुमार मुनि-बेष, देखत लोनाई लघु लागत मदन हैं। सुखमाकी मूरति-सी साथ निसिनाथ-मुखी, नखसिख अंग सब सोभाके सदन हैं॥ २ ॥ पंकज-करनि चाप, तीर-तरकस कटि, सरद-सरोजहुतें सुंदर चरन हैं। सीता-राम-लषन निहारि ग्रामनारि कहैं, हेरि, हेरि, हेरि! हेली हियके हरन हैं॥ ३ ॥ प्रानहूके प्रानसे, सुजीवनके जीवनसे, प्रेमहूके प्रेम, रंक कृपिनके धन हैं। तुलसीके लोचन-चकोरके चंद्रमासे, आछे मन-मोर चित चातकके घन हैं॥ ४ ॥
What kind of parents, what kind of dear relations can they be Who sent such lovely fair and dark children—jewels of the ocean of the world— Into the forest? (1) Their beauty has no farther shore: princes dressed as sages, Whose loveliness makes Love himself seem small when they are seen. With them is a moon-faced woman, the very embodiment of grace; From head to foot, every limb is a dwelling place of beauty. (2) Bows rest in lotus hands, arrows and quivers at their waists, And their feet are lovelier than autumn lotuses. Beholding Sītā, Rāma, and Lakṣmaṇa, the village women cry: ‘Look, look, look, friend! They steal the heart!’ (3) They are the very life of life, the life within true living, The love within love, and the treasure of the poor and miserly. For Tulsī’s cakora-like eyes they are moons; For the peacock of his mind and the cātaka of his heart they are beautiful rainclouds. (4)