आलोक्य नगरी तां च क्षयव्याकुलमानसाः। आवर्तयन्त तेऽश्रूणि नयनैः शोकपीडितैः॥ एषा रामेण नगरी रहिता नातिशोभते। आपगा गरुडेनेव हृदादुद्धृतपत्रगा॥ चन्द्रहीनमिवाकाशं तोयहीनमिवार्णवम्। अपश्यन् निहतानन्दं नगरं ते विचेतसः॥
ālokya nagarī tāṃ ca kṣayavyākulamānasāḥ| āvartayanta te'śrūṇi nayanaiḥ śokapīḍitaiḥ|| eṣā rāmeṇa nagarī rahitā nātiśobhate| āpagā garuḍeneva hṛdāduddhṛtapatragā|| candrahīnamivākāśaṃ toyahīnamivārṇavam| apaśyan nihatānandaṃ nagaraṃ te vicetasaḥ||
English Meaning
Viewing the city, they with their eyes weighed down with grief, and minds oppressed with woc, shed plentiful, tears. "This city deprived of Rāma does not look beautiful, like a lake bereft of its serpent by Garuda, or the firmament deprived of the Moon, or the ocean without its waters.” And they disturbed in mind beheld the city sunk in sorrow.
— M.N. Dutt (1891–94, public domain)