To chant that verse, and ever more

They marvelled as they sang it o'er:

“Behold, the four-lined balanced rime,

Repeated over many a time,

In words that from the hermit broke

In shock of grief, becomes a śloke.”

This measure now Válmíki chose

Wherein his story to compose.

In hundreds of such verses, sweet

With equal lines and even feet,