A Time For Repayment of Gratitude (Kyay Zu Sub Chain)

A Time For Repayment of Gratitude
(Kyay Zu Sub Chain)

It’s the monsoon awakening
We cannot forget the July happening
My mind is unstable and deteriorating
My heart is sad and sickening
I’m alone moaning and groaning.

Bogyoke Aung San and his comrades were
People’s flowers murdered in cold blood
They were a broken branch that fell in a rush
We cannot console ourselves enough.

Oh! With a misty eye and paining heart
I feel tired and hurt
I miss him and see his works
I pay homage thus.

Let us march forward
Despite the hard journey with difficulties
To reach our destiny in a new era
That is the paradise of the workers.

Artists, writers, musicians and fellow workers
Form the powerful intelligentsia
They are marching together.

At farms, factories and foundries
Workers work with will and body
These physical workers also contribute to the country
They are marching to reach our destiny.

Burma proper and states do not segregate
Unity has been made
This united strength is great
It is marching to reach the declared state.

From the country and city schools
Male and female learners are equal in full
These sincere students become our force too
They are marching towards a higher plateau.

With a misty eye and paining heart
I feel tired and hurt
I miss him and see his works
I pay homage thus.

He sacrificed his life easily
For an independent and united country
It’s thus our duty to maintain its unity
To preserve the union thus attained correctly.

Towards a peaceful workers’ epoch destiny
Let us march with determination and industry
With strong desire and plenty of ingenuity
It’s time to pay back our debt to Bogyoke-kyi.

Budalin Chit Lay
(19.7.1964)

Translation Dr Maung Maung Nyo
(4.6.2007)