s man
The wretchedness of his great agonies?"
"How do I know?" said Channa, "for we all
Are subject to distemper and disease.
Sometimes the best are stricken--and must die!"
"Must die?" cried I, "What does that word portend?"
For, you must know, I never heard of death.
My father had forbidden, at his court
To speak to me of anything unpleasant.
"Yea, die!" said Channa, "Look around and see!"
Along the road a funeral procession
Moved slowly, solemnly and mournfully
And on the bier a corpse, stark, stiff and cold.

_Y._ Do not be troubled, death is still far off.

_B._ Oh do not feel secure, for the three evils
Surround us constantly and everywhere,
And even now death hovers o'er our house.
When I was born my mother went to heaven,
Which means, she died when she gave life to me.

_Y._ My Lord don't think of evils that are past.

_B._ The world's impermanence is still the same,
And all material things are conformations
Subject to pain, decay and dissolution.
Yet unconcerned in blessed carelessness
Man hunteth after pleasure. Transiency
Has set its mark on life, and there is none
Who can escape its curse. There is no mortal
Who's always happy. Misery surprises
The luckiest with unexpected terror.
Then, in addition, unseen powers breed
Most heinous maladies and fever heat.
E'en if we were exceptions, thou must grant
That finally we too will meet our doom.
The ghastly specter Death, the stern king Yama,
Awaiteth all of us. Such is our fate!

_Y._ O put away these gloomy thoughts, and think
Of life and love, and of thy lovely child.

_B._ Could we be truly happy while the world
Is filled with misery? Mine eyes are opened;
I see how death his gruesome revel holds.
He owns the world and sways its destinies.
One creature ruthlessly preys on the other,
And man, the cleverest, preys on them all.
Nor is he free, for man preys upon man!
Nowhere is peace, and everywhere is war;
Life's mighty problem must be solved at last.--
I have a mission to fulfil.

_Y._ And me
Wouldst sacrifice for a philosophy,
For the idea of an idle quest!

_B._ 'Tis not for me to ask whether my quest
Be vain: for me 'tis to obey the call.

_Y._ [_with passionate outburst_] Siddhattha, O my Lord, my husband,
what wilt thou do? Dost thou forget the promise made me on our wedding
day?

_B_. Yasodhara, a higher duty calls.
The time will come, and it is close at hand,
When I shall wander into homelessness.
I'll leav