A poem of Karna

O sing my tethering torment
And behold the direful impediment
I am mired here in sorrowful vale
Moaning, for great is my bale

Gloomy darkness rolled upon my head
Engulfing me, ghastly mist cast upon me dread
Gait in fretful pace, I set forth to a cliff
From a lofty place, my stare I lift
Into Kurukshetra, the vast wilderness of massacre

Great Kaurawa march, boiled with ire
And from their eyes, flashed the living fire
O Great Kaurawa, whose name I adore as hallows
Ye, who nourished me in times of my hollows
From whom my puissance forged
And from whom my pride conferred

And before me, my kin contend
Burned with insatiate hate, their lance ascend
Ready to cast their assault
O Pritha, mother most disdained
Prayers and tears shall plead in vain

For I speak what wisdom should conceal
And fiendish truths, invidious to the great, revealed
Shall I place myself along my brothers with valor?
And let folks upon myself abhor
Or shall I fight along Kaurawa fully savage?
Into the last breath of my courage