Pay Back Your Debt of Gratitude! (Kyay Zu Sub Lot)

Pay Back Your Debt of Gratitude!
(Kyay Zu Sub Lot)

In the history of Burma
It has never happened ever
We were enslaved for a hundred years
Poor Burmese tried hard to recover
The lost sovereignty from colonizers
Then a bright sun appeared
It was Bogyoke Aung San, the martyr
Our beloved leader, people’s benefactor,
He fought and conquered the colonizers,
Imperialist enslavers and Fascist monsters
Independence was thus recovered
His debt is very big, nay, greater
Than the great earth and massive Myintmo together
Such was General Aung San’s endeavours.

“Incomparable and unequalled”, they say
The whole world was amazed
It was such Bogyoke’s image
Let us pay homage for sacrifices he made
He identified with the poor workers and peasants lately
He ate, slept and stayed with them affectionately
And he did not climb the state hierarchy
To be the elite of the society
But, he said he would try to be literati
After independence is gained completely
His character was thus praise worthy
He never misappropriated any state property
Not even a broken needle or crockery
So impeccable was his honesty
He could be compared to Mingyi Yan Naung for such sobriety.

But, his fate was badly sealed
He was mercilessly killed
By his enemies, U Saw’s men
On 19th July nineteen forty seven
It was a fateful day with bad omen
With downpours and sullen heaven
Gunshots were fired at them
Bogyoke and his ministers had fallen
It was a bad ominous day for the Burmese land.

Now, let us remember the sad incident
Never to forget Bogyoke and his intent
Who sacrificed their lives all of a sudden
To uplift the status of their country men
From hunger, poverty, rags and empty land
To well-fed, well-clothed and well-tended men
This for all poor workers and peasants
That’s what Bogyoke had wanted
So, let’s work hard with intent
To supplant the great debt we owed to him.

Yan Aung
(19.7.1964)

Translation Dr Maung Maung Nyo
(3.6.2007)