The Buddha Part 4

_D._ Your order shall be punctiliously obeyed.

_Pays his military salute and returns to the guard house._

_V._ That settles the guard, and should Siddhattha flee he will find no obstacle.

_Two men come out of the guard house and enter the palace with a bier. KALA UDAYIN comes back from the garden. VISAKHA retires into the background._

_K._ The nightingale is a sweet bird, but I like the lark better. The nightingale is more artistic, but his song is melancholy, he is so sentimental! The lark has a mere twitter like my own song, I like the lark better. How beautiful is this summer night; How glorious is the moon; how fragrant are the roses in the garden! It is a most auspicious night, and all breathes happiness.

_VISAKHA from his hiding place watches KALA._

_V._ He comes in time, his presence will prosper my plans.

[Kala is lost in thought. Music, from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, somber and as if coming from a distance, is heard.]

_K._ [_while the music plays_] What a strange presentiment is stealing over my soul. Perhaps I was too happy! What does Siddhattha say?

"All conformations always are transient,[A]

Harra.s.sed by sorrow, lacking a self."

[Footnote A: The quoted lines run in the same rhythm as the melody and should be p.r.o.nounced accordingly. See _Buddhist Hymns_, p. 22.]

_The men come with the corpse on the bier. KALA stops them._

_K._ What do you carry? Who is this? [_he shrieks_] My father! [_The carriers set the corpse down and Kala sinks down by the bier._] Oh, my father! my dearest father! How did you die? Why did you leave me? Oh, my father! [_he sobs_].

_The moon sinks behind a cloud._

_SIDDHATTHA comes._

_B._ What may the trouble be? I heard a shriek.

_KALA raises himself half way up. The scene is bright again._

_K._ Oh, my Prince! See here! My father is dead! Now I know the truth as well as you. Now I feel the pain. The time has come for me to lament. I was so happy and I would not believe you.--Oh ye who are happy, think in the hour of happiness that all is subject to suffering, and the hour of suffering will come to you too. Nay more than that, the hour of death will come; it has come to my father, it will come to you and to me, and then my caroling will stop forever.

Oh, my poor father!

_B._ How rarely is thy advent welcome, Death, E'en this poor gardener who a servant was His livelong days, leaves in our hearts a gap.

His son lamenteth him, and I not less; He was my loving friend; my educator, He had me on his knees so many a time, To tell me how the flowers will grow and blow, And how they prosper after rainy days.

May gentle lilies from thy ashes spring, Decked with the purity of thine own heart, And with their fragrance give the same delight That in thy present life thou gavest us.

_The carriers lift up the body and carry it out._

Oh, fare thee well, thou good and worthy friend, Oh, fare thee well, but thy departure is To me a token that my time has come.

_Turning to KALA who all the while was lying prostrate weeping._

Weep not, companion of my childhood days, But bear in mind the courage of thy mirth.

Remember all the virtues of thy father And let them live again in thine own heart.

Thou must not yield to weakness and lamenting, Tend to life's duties: Go and call me Channa, Bid him to saddle Kanthaka, my steed, And let him ready be for a night's ride.

_KALA exit. SIDDHATTHA alone._

The hour has come! and now my last farewell To thee my wife and Rahula my son.

_SIDDHATTHA makes a few steps and halts._

This is the greatest sacrifice I bring: I leave behind a crown without regret; I leave the luxury of wealth and power; I care for them as though they were but ashes But I must also leave my wife and child: Here I must prove the courage of my heart.

_Enters the house._

FIFTH SCENE.

[The veil of clouds comes down, and when it rises we see Yasodhara's bedroom again.]

_SIDDHATTHA (B) enters. YASODHARA (Y) sleeps with the babe in her arms._

_B._ Here lie the rarest treasures of this life, My n.o.ble wife, my dear boy Rahula.

_SIDDHATTHA approaches the bed._

Your sleep is sweet in your sweet innocence, And I will not disturb your blissful rest.

I will go out in search for saving Truth And shall not come again unless 't be found Farewell my wife and Rahula my son.

Must I be gone? Is this, in sooth, my duty?

_He goes toward the door. There he stops._

Perchance on their account I ought to stay.

But no! my father can take care of them.

It is my tender heart that makes me weak.

This is the greatest sacrifice I bring.

SIXTH SCENE

[Change of scene, as rapid as before. The garden before the palace]

_CHANNA (Ch.) enters with a horse._

_Channa._ My Prince, here is your steed!

_MARA (M), a superhuman figure, gaudily dressed, hovering in the air, suddenly appears and addresses SIDDHATTHA (B)._

_M._ It is a shame to leave your wife and child.