आलोक्य नगरीं तां च क्षयव्याकुलमानसाः।
अवर्तयन्त तेऽश्रूणि नयनैः शोकपीडितैः॥
एषा रामेण नगरी रहिता नातिशोभते।
आपगा गरुडेनेव हृदादुद्धृतपन्नगा॥
ālokya nagarīṁ tām ca kṣaya-vyākula-mānasāḥ
avartayanta te ’śrūṇi nayanaiḥ śoka-pīḍitaiḥ
eṣā rāmeṇa nagarī rahitā nātiśobhate
āpagā garuḍeneva hradād uddhṛta-pannagā
ālokya = upon seeing; nagarīm = city; tām ca = the; kṣaya-vyākula-mānasāḥ = their minds were overwhelmed by distress about the city’s state of decay; avartayanta = shed; te1 aśrūṇi = tears; nayanaiḥ = their eyes; śoka-pīḍitaiḥ = tormented by distress; eṣā = [the citizens lamented:] this; rāmeṇa = Rāma; nagarī = city; rahitā = without; na = not; atiśobhate = does look very beautiful; āpagā = a river; garuḍena = by an eagle; iva = it is like; hradāt = from a lake; uddhṛta-pannagā = whose snakes have been taken away.
Upon seeing the city, their minds were overwhelmed by distress about the city’s state of decay. Tormented by distress, their eyes shed tears. [The citizens lamented:] “This city does not look very beautiful without Rāma. It is like a river whose snakes have been taken away by an eagle from a lake.”
Their minds were distressed upon seeing the city because it was not washed, cleansed and so on.
GLOSS. [Kṣaya-vyākula-mānasāḥ] indicates that their minds were overwhelmed in their homes.1 [A lake within a river] is beautified by snakes in it.