"Broken are our hearts, bowed low our spirit at the thought of our lives without Thy presence to cheer us. Dull are our minds and leaden our hearts by the pain of Thy going.
"Oh, leave us not in this ocean of sorrow, but stay where we ever may look on Thy face.
"O Thou who shapest all that is, who hast knitted our hearts to Thyself! how canst Thou tear it away from us who know the sweetness of its love and the fruits that spring therefrom?
"Once having known Thy smile, O Krishna! how can we bear the dawning of day without the light of Thy smile, in which the concentrated beauty of Thy whole creation lies, to fill it and make each day whole?
"And how can we see the shadows of night thicken and darken, and know that no more we will roam in forest and dance in the moonlight with Thee, our Beloved?
"Oh! depart not from us, Thou in whom we are buried, Thou whose love doth envelop us all, Thou whose universe-embrace around us is entwined! Oh! go not from out our midst, we implore Thee!"
Thus, tearing their tresses and weeping, the Gopis clung to the wheels of the chariot in which Krishna and Rāma sat ready to start on their journey to Mathura.
Then Krishna arose, and looking deep in the eye of each, he waved his hand in farewell, an€ left the smile of Bliss with them that filled each soul to overflowing. Then forward the restless chargers plunged, the dust rising high and quite covering the chariot.
The maids stood like hewn marble, still yet serene. And the cattle that grazed on the hillside turned towards the road where the chariot vanished, in their eyes a look of yearning love; while the deer on the brow of the hill, with arched neck and wild, shy glance, heaved a quick, short sigh, as if hurt.
And the soft breasts of the singing birds quivered, and a little sad song burst from their throats; while the trees and the flowers hung limp and wilted, as if the glad life had left their hearts.