All the other monkeys wept to find

their search for Sita halted at the ocean shore.

Only Hanuman was tranquil.

Then, when old Jambhu remembers

once, in childhood, cheeky Hanuman

provoked the wrath of Indra

or, another time, mistook the sunrise

for a fruit, and how he flew to eat it:

Hanuman is overjoyed to be reminded

he alone is capable of serving Rama.

How joyfully he rushes up the nearest

mountain for momentum, scales a tree

and hurls himself into the sky

and heads for Lanka, seeking Sita.

So, before the sun as risen

he has flown four hundred miles.

Then he scours the Lanka palace

marvels as he sees the bedrooms

to discover he can look unmoved

at all those sleeping women

while he knows, through innocence

that Sita, stolen, could not have

the luxury of sleep.

Then he seeks her in the parkland.

But he knows her rescue must be made

by Rama: no-one else may touch her.

So he comforts her with stories of her husband.

Afterwards he sets out to disturb the peace.

He rips apart the pleasure gardens

tears up pillars, smashes heroes

wipes out whole battalions

all before the demon Indrajit

can catch and bind him with the Brahma weapon.

Then that monkey simply prays to Brahma

and with childlike trust surrenders

knowing God will soon release him.

He allows the web to fasten

in his love for Father-Guru.

Lesser soldiers leap with ropes to bind him

thus, the magic power is annulled.

Still that wily monkey lets them

drag him coarsly into court

before their king. Thus mighty innocence

deceives those lustful Rakshasas.

Hanuman sees Ravana and thinks it shame

how lust could undermine a mighty Lord.

When asked to tell his origin

that monkey, irrepressible

fortells destruction at the hand of Rama.

While wearing ropes he cautions them

saying he is the messenger of Rama and the monkey king Sugriva

while he is son of Anila, the Wind-God.

They should repent because their doom is nigh.

In answer they set fire to his tail.

He makes a weapon of that burning fuse

grows huge, and leaps around the city

setting everything ablaze.

Then he returns to Sita in the garden

where she entrusts him with her wedding pearls

and messages to take to Rama.

He rushes back to cheer the monkey troop.

He has done all of this and more

before the sun has risen.