After Your Demise (Thin Thay Thwar Thaw)

After Your Demise
(Thin Thay Thwar Thaw)

Oh, This is a world of humans
Who would grow, age and die
It's the law of Karma and Man
Every one has to live and resign!

So, my friend, you have to die one day
You don't have anything to say
But, after your death, your native land
That fed you should be left in better hand.

Your mother tongue and literature
Should be improved greater and better.

Where you pay homage and share merit
That pretty pagoda should be lit
Its golden hue and honour
Shine shimmering in splendour!

Zaw Gyi in O'way Magazine, December 1935
Translation Dr Maung Maung Nyo
30.08.2007

Enjoying Life in equatorial Kuching

The Identity

The Identity

What is an “identity”?
I don’t know for certainty
When people lost their country
They also lost their identity.

When I was in London
I met one Kaung Zan
He came from Shwe Bo
It was several years ago;
He spoke Queen’s English
He dressed and behaved like British
He ridiculed us as smell of “Ngapi’s”
He looked more British than British!

But, he always stayed with us
Even going to movies and circus
He was always treated as one of us
By British whatever he pretended thus.

In USA, I noticed Chinese with Chinese
Vietnamese mixed with Vietnamese
Burmese Indians and Chinese frolicked with Burmese
They have found a common breed.

I met a Burmese doctor in Malaysia
He never says he comes from Burma
He is ashamed of poor Burmese workers
But he holds Burmese passport as shelter.

I also hold the Burmese passport
I pay double taxation I like to report
Nay, “triple” as I also pay in Burma
For a little abode I possess there;
People ask me, ” Where will you live from here?”
I say,” I would live in Burma”
‘But, it’s an inferno!”, they exclaimed
“No worries, it’s my motherland,” I claimed.

What is an “identity?
I don’t know for certainty
But, it’s a pity
If one has lost that identity.

Dr Maung Maung Nyo
Original (2.8.2007)