A Lake Made for Swans Fills with Dark Wings
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 281
Doha 281 · Movement 2 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
The world speaks of nectar, yet the mothers have been given poison to taste. Every promise of royal happiness has opened into death, exile, separation, and remorse.
Their bewilderment takes the form of a once pure lake. It was meant to receive swans, emblems of grace and discernment, gliding over clear water. Instead crows, owls, and herons occupy its banks.
The image does not deny that swans exist. It measures the painful distance between the order for which life seemed fashioned and the disorder now visible everywhere. In the queens' chamber, grief sees the world as a sacred habitat overtaken by creatures of darkness and harsh cry.
The mothers remember a world prepared for swans and awaken inside a lake where the cries of crow, owl, and heron fill the air.
Read the passage from the Manas
सुनिअ सुधा देखिअहिं गरल सब करतूति कराल। जहँ तहँ काक उलूक बक मानस सकृत मराल।।281।।
One hears of nectar, yet sees only poison; all deeds are terrible. Here and there crows, owls, and herons dwell in the lake that was meant for swans.