[451] 1. "You do not know the path of him
who has come or who has gone;
yet for that son, come from you know not where,
you weep, crying, 'My son!'
And even if you knew his path,
whether of his coming or his going,
you would not grieve over him —
for such is the nature of living beings.
Unasked, he came from there;
without leave, he went from here.
Surely, having come from somewhere or other,
having stayed but a few days,
from here, too, he came by one way;
from there he goes by another.
Departed (peto), he will go on transmigrating in human form;
as he came, so he has gone —
what lamentation (paridevanā) is there in that?"
"Truly she has drawn out the dart of mine,
hard to see, lodged in my heart —
she who, for me overcome by sorrow (soka),
dispelled the grief for my son.
Today, with the dart drawn out,
I am hungerless, fully quenched.
I go for refuge to the Sage:
to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha."
The Five Hundred Paṭācārās.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.