Sadness and Sympathy for Tsunami-hit Japan
Dr Maung Maung Nyo
I saw with sorrow on TV tsunami-hit Japan
Huge waves of water wallowing wide
Every thing in its stride to fall in tandem
Big walls, bridges , factories and houses like
Toys in a pool of water, but death for all in this tide!
It reminds me of King Vidarupa and his troops
Killing all the Sakyis despite Buddha for their moods
Of contempt and censure to him as a slave’s son
Though he was born of the Kosala King like a sun
All drowned in the Ganga River flood unable to run!
Fire followed in the towns after the big wave
People ran helter-skelter to find a safe place
But men and materials burn like tinder pine
I remember Burmese burnt during the Japanese time
By Japanese troops interrogating for the supposed crime!
Now three or four nuclear reactors misbehave
To the effect of quake and impact of the big wave
By not cooling and releasing radioactive waste
Proper precautions are to be made in haste
To prevent radioactivity erasing the whole race!
It reminds me of nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagaski
Deadly and devastating to the Japanese to suffer so dramatically
But it brought the Second World War abruptly to an end
Preventing further death and destruction of innocent men
Japanese Fascists are to blame for the crimes then!
Whatever the Buddhist Dhamma and history tell me
I feel deep sorrow and sympathy for the Japanese citizenry
Suffering from the effects of earth quake and tsunami
And possibly from the nuclear activity and radiations
That could destroy people’s life and health in generations
Progeny of Hiroshima and Nagaski still showing retributions!
Dr Maung Maung Nyo
17.3.2011 (Original)
2 comments:
Dear Saya,
It is so touching .
Our thoughts and prayers are with our Japanese brothers and sisters who have been affected enormously.
Also I am quite positive about their resilience, resourcefulness and spirit of self sacrifice.
We, Buddhists could comprehend utu and kamma phenomena of panca niyama in your poem. Very delicately.
More delicately, I assume that you expressed the Virudhara's massacre and our own plight before Independence as metaphors for our empathy and compassion (certainly, not drawing an analogy.
with best regards and respects,
your pupil,
thant syn
Dear Dr Aung Thant Syn,
Thank you for your appreciation. A poem expresses the poet's feeling at the time of composing it drawing on his experience and knowledge. I feel very sad for the present day Japanese as their ancestors' debts must be repaid by them even by natural disasters or man made maladies and mishaps.
Thabbe Thudda Kammathaga.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Maung Maung Nyo
9.4.2011
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