THIS CANDLE (Ngwe Ta Yi)

A candle shines steamy and fragrant
before the holy image.
Though other candles are kindled from its flame
it shines on as though unaware.

1954

Translated By Win Pe

THE GREAT GUEST(Tin Moe)(1933-)

the cigar's burnt down
the sun is brown
will somebody take me home


1959

Translated By Win Pe

FERRY ON INYA LAKE (Min Thu Wun)

The circles of raindrops on the water
are like a mat of O's.


In the sudden squall the surface prances.
The waves are like fighting cocks.
The dusturbed waters are crested with white.
Hailstones fall and the rain pours in a slant.

The trees swing to left and right
As if possessed by spirits
And behind the spit of land
The clouds form a dark backdrop.

While the lake wears the proud mantle of rain-lace
I wish to roam among the obsure islands.
Ferryman, prepare the boat.


1948

Translated By Win Pe

THE GHOST (Kyi Aye)

Unable to sleep in the depth of the night
I sit on the bed, the sheets tossed and wrinkled,
Agitated, uncontrolled, without refuge.

Outside, a few stars between the leaves.
An old magnolia tree besides the lake,
And pottering among the bushes, the ghost, I.

A shuffle of feet beside the bed,
then footsteps at the door and on the verandah,
Frightened, I look at the ghost’s face
and, how I want to cry, I see me.

I drown in the river and shiver.
I rest on the branch of the rain-tree.
I kneel at the holy shrine.
Weary, an I rises from many I’s,
goes to my lover, who does not hear me,
and cry:
“Get up. Let’s go. Don’t you dream of me.”
The image of the ghost comes as a blur in my mind.

1947
Translated By Win Pe(modern Burmese Poetry)

HAYCINTH WAY-10 (Zaw Gyi)

At the mudflat’s margin of murky blue
the hyacinth* moves up with the waves
and with the waves descends.

Descent is not without travail.
A coconut frond comes floating with the tide.
Descent and drift. The coconut frond
Hits the hyacinth girl in the side.
Though hit in the side she finds no rest.
In a moment a wave has smothered her.
She goes under and does not rise.
Then a wave surges and the hyacinth girl
Comes up about a yard away.
Coming up does not bring respite.
Ducks emerge from a branch of the creek.
A hundred ducks and a lone hyacinth.
She is jostled and kicked but
Holds her lips tight
and keeps wearing her flower.

1960

*Water-hyacinth called BEDA in Burmese, that grows in the deltaic stream floating up and down with the ebb and flow of the tide.ed.
Translated By Win Pe(modern Burmese Poetry)

FOOTPRINTS (Maung Swan Yi)

footprints when summer runs-
the parched earth


footprints when the rain runs-
these puddles


footprints when winter runs-
residual dew


footprints when the mind runs-
poems

1960

PICKING STAR-FLOWERS(Maung Swe Tint)(1939-)

Darling, look, we never saw them in the rain.
The road is strewn with star-flowers.
Let's pick them.Come, darling. Don't be naughty.
Bring a basket for the star-flowers.

Stay then, if you don't want to come.
But when I return with star-flowers in my hair,
don't kiss me. I'll run away.



Translated By Win Pe

THE PYINMA STUMP(Min Thu Win)

The ancient pyinma stump, gnarled and knotted,
sits like a vulture on the hill.
Termites have nested in the wasted trunk
and scabs form on the ulcerous bole.
A dented helmet sunk in a cranny
on the hill's side shows that war was here.
The ancient pyinma stump ravaged by war,
savaged by termites,
notched by blade,
scorched by the sun,
does not bow to the storm.
When summer comes again the old leaf
breaks at the stalk and new leaves form.
It wears its youthful beauty in the wind-
courageous, manly pyinma stump.


1949

Translated By Win Pe

ROSES (Min Thu Win)(1909-)

returning from the fields
she said she wanted
to wear star flowers
I plucked them


in the morning
I saw the elegant one
with roses in her hair
magnificent !


(1932)

Translated By Win Pe