I sent this original poem three years ago to another blog but look at what happened now.

 

(Finally they came.

In processions, as far as eyes could see, in flaming splendor of golden saffron

Flowing down in chanting columns like the Raging Fire in my dream)

 

First the Raging Fire, then Freedom comes

                                                                    Haunted by the fire, by May Ng

 

I love you my boy

A sweet young face cradled in my arms not so long ago

When they dragged you to prison for demonstrating for democracy

You were merely a child

Not yet a match for a military with big guns

His name is Nay Rein Kyaw, he was arrested when he was merely seventeen years old, for distributing pamphlets and was sentenced to seven years in prison. I met him right after finishing this poem. He said his determination only got stronger after the imprisonment.

 

After 16 years in this hell

You are no longer a beautiful child of mine

Easily forgotten as a needy third-world wretched-man

A life half lived in prisons and in an inhumane world among those incapable of love

Where cruelty breeds cruelty

And violence breeds violence

These are USDA, Swan Arhshin and barbaric militias whom junta depends on to crush political opponents.

 

For all of you in Burma’s deep dark prisons and those stranded in this country’s bloody scene

How can I feel other than broken-hearted?

They all said

Freedom, freedom was all we asked

We were only

Innocent political prisoners

We were

Monks

Teachers

Students and mothers

Thinkers

Writers

Poets

And believers of political freedom

Our biggest crime being

Our fearless imaginations

Our optimistic trust in the coming together of the free world to be on our side.

 

Caught in the trap,

Drowning at the bottom of the web

Of muffled justice and silenced liberty

In the deep dark corridors of Burma’s jails are my countrymen

Who had once asked for freedom with flowers in their hands

Well this part speaks for itself. So read on….

 

Wearing sandals and sarongs

Blowing in the gentle wind like

Thin autumn leaves and flickering candles of the night

They came out in numbers to let their wishes for the freedom to be known

Blackest nights and darkest days have followed since.

The choices they were allowed were

Their families or freedom for Burma

Their lives or freedom for Burma

No imprisonments in Burma’s dungeons or freedom for Burma

How could anyone ever imagine that there was any choice other than freedom for Burma?

Their lives

Their families

Their land

Their hopes

Their future

Were all intertwined with their freedom

This is our recent past and present….

 

While the world takes the measured and cautious steps,

Lingering in the stench of Burma’s ancient cells

Our poets and our leaders

Our jailed innocents in the darkest hell with blank eyes are staring at dead men’s scrawls

on the blood-stained dungeon walls,

Comparing the hand prints of the bygone colonists with the fingerprints of current military

No one ever hearing the muffled screams or broken spirits and broken wings

I wonder how they could ever find hope again in this hell.

Where they have lost their lives

Their minds

Their future

Their families

And their final trust in humanity

Knowing this, how can I feel other than broken-hearted?

This is our recent and ongoing struggle………

 

A handful of privileged men

With weapons in their hands are devastating the lives of my people

Our revered Buddhist monks

Our students, our teachers

Our fathers, our mothers

Our sons and our daughters

Endless list of names under every alphabet in every prison

Witnessing the sorrow of my people

And hearing the voices of their desire

How can you feel other than broken-hearted?

This is what we have been witnessing in the last few days……..

 

It must be raining all over Burma

You could hear the rain from within the prisons, I am sure.

Endless summers of our dreams seem so far away now.

I will be thinking of you my son

Remember, I will always be thinking of all of you.

If you could only see the Burma I knew

Where life should have been

Exhilarating as waves on the sandy white shore of Arakan

Soft as the clouds in the Shan’s sky

Beautiful as the sunsets on the Irrawaddy

Life could have been as

Hopeful as chubby babies in their mothers’ pouches

Bright as stars over the pristine wilderness of Burma

And life should have been as sweet as palm sugar and a field of fragrant flowers.

Boy, did it rain!!!!And the Buddhist monks were protesting bravely in the heavy rain and those vivid images will forever be etched in our hearts………

 

You have not suffered for a lost cause but for a permanent change in Burma’s history

You have given up all of yourselves and more.

Those who gave up their lives and those suffering in prisons now shall not be forgotten; they are making history and a permanent change indeed.

 

If you cannot go to where you want to go and if you cannot speak the truth

Chain link fences and prison walls might as well be there

to remind us all, of our own captivity.

This is about Aung San Suu Kyi, Min Ko Naing, U Khun Tun Oo, to Ko Htin Kyaw who bravely go to prison instead of running from Burma……

 

You have come a long way from being political agitators to being the leaders of a revolution

If 1988 was a political uprising by the agitators

The 2007 is a revolution to permanently change Burma for the better

The student leaders have now become the leaders of a revolution!!!!!!

 

From small candle lights to burning torches and a raging fire stoppable by no one.

This part haunted me for the last three years since I have written it. I sat up at nights wondering where that raging fire was coming from.

Finally they came.

In processions, as far as eyes could see, in the flaming splendor of golden saffron

Flowing down in chanting columns like the Raging Fire in my dream

Our revered monks

Descended from heaven to the ordinary mortal world and sacrificed for us

 

This time we will make sure that people of Burma and of the whole world understand that our cause is their cause as well.

Three years ago no one dare dream of a day when the world thinks that Burma is their cause. Burma is now the number one cause on many worlds’ politically active organizations and is going to make gains like the campaigns for Dafur and Sudan. No one, not even the evil dictators can stop that from happening. 2008 Beijing Olympic could not have been a better opportunity for the activists to pick on, only to help Burma.

 

We are asking for the right to the knowledge which will give us wisdom

In wisdom we shall find our freedom and the best of reasons

to fight for, to live and to love again

I had no idea that knowledge was going to free us so soon, when I wrote this. But free us it shall. The knowledge aided by information technology is helping Burma freed from the iron clad bondage of the junta.

 

At the end of this long hard road paved with blood of our innocents, may there be a true hope.

As ‘The Economist’ said today that, If, the world acts in concert, the violence should be the last spasm of a vicious regime in its death throes.

But we did suffer the last swipe by the demon on its final exit. It is indeed a long hard road paved with blood of our innocents as everyone has witnessed.

 

After all why would you want to be looking at the faces of enemies if they could become your friends?

Then comes peaceful reconciliation between all parties.

 

In our freedom,

May we move beyond our wounded selves and start anew for a better Burma.

And may our broken-hearts be mended soon…

Finally our Freedom shall come

Prepare and get ready, you will have to work harder especially when all your wishes come true.

Just remember no hatreds!!!!!!!!!!!!!