Mountains Pass Like Playthings Into the Hands of Nala and Nila

The forest host returns in torrents. Towering trees tilt above moving ranks, roots exposed to the sky. Mountain shoulders that seemed fixed since creation travel toward the coast upon the arms of monkeys intoxicated with service.

Nothing in their movement bears the weight of ordinary labor. They lift the immense forms playfully and lay them before Nala and Nila as children might carry branches toward a game. Rama's purpose has changed the measure of effort.

At the water's edge, the two builders receive every tree and peak. They judge line, balance, and placement, then shape the impossible material into a beautiful passage. The ocean that separated longing from action begins to disappear beneath a road built from devotion, stone, timber, and the glad strength of innumerable hands.

What creation planted as mountains, service lifts like toys and gives to the makers of Rama's road.