12.11.2006
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Let’s Shine the Lights on Burma
(In Thandar Shwe’s wedding video)
They may see the diamonds
But I only see the faces of the Burma’s dying children
They may admire the pearls
But I know they paid for those with our precious lives
On sparkling Champaign glasses
I can see the reflections of refugees and their sad tears
Rustles of the bride’s expensive silk satin
Remind me of the innocent IDPs running away from killing by the Tatmataw
The shimmering plump first daughter attended by her maids of honor
Make me think of the young Shan girls
Raped and left to die in ditches to the horror of their families
Seeing the top general’s lush villa
Complete with a swimming pond and a golf course
I can only think of the deforested mountains
Cut clean and left dry
Finishing the last drop of Burma’s treasures
The music they enjoy
Is only sob and moan of the poor farmers
Whose land they tricked and confiscated
Then, the red carpet they walk on
Is the same color as the bloody lane near Inyer Lake
Where they killed innocent people in 1988
For too long
The people have been hunted
The people have been watched
The people have been brainwashed, tortured and murdered in the dark
Now we are shining the spotlights on the military junta
Let’s see
Where will they go and where will they hide
When fifty million pairs of eyes are watching
Whom will they trust with the million dollar pearls and flashing diamonds on their brides?
How will they keep up with the lies when our people can hear the real truth?
And when fifty million people begin to question
How long can rapists and murderers run free while fat men with guns terrorize the innocents?
I only know this
We will not stop asking
We will never ever stop shining the lights on Burma
Until
Our country,
Aung San Suu Kyi and all the political prisoners,
Student activists, ethnic nationalities
Are free
(By May Ng, New York, Nov, 10th, 2006)
Comments:
Mya Than Nyunt said _
An excellent poem. It is direct, but like a good movie with montages and flashbacks along side it. Bravo.
Feraya said _
I really like your poems, and this one especially. I feel the same; there is so much suffering created by the Burmese military regime because they hate the good civilians of Burma; due to the military regime's greed, delusions of grandeur, delusions of superiority and extreme ignorance of what it means to be human.
David Law said _
Dear May, your poem about the decadent wedding hits the SPDC very well. Keep up your good work.
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