Skip to main content

My Dear Guest

Golden crows were crying loud
When my dear guest called me out,
Crossing mounds to reach my house.

Smiled, but it seemed to pretend,
Bringing nothing in the hands,
And left something in return.

Couldn't notice or prevent
Something you left in my heart.
Is that so called attachment?

Rush out to gate when dogs bark,
Wishing my guest in the dark.
Found none but my broken heart.
 
#WaiYanHponePoetry
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Myanmar’s Doomed Political Union: A Flawed Pact Between the NLD and the Military

Before February 1, 2021, if someone had asked me whether the military would stage a coup, I would have said no. I would have just thought it was another empty threat. Min Aung Hlaing had even said just a day before that there were no plans to abolish the 2008 Constitution. But when the coup actually happened, I wasn’t surprised either. We already knew they could do anything. If you read between the lines, you will notice that the only thing they ruled out was abolishing the Constitution—not that they had guaranteed they wouldn’t grab power. And under the 2008 Constitution, wasn’t it impossible to stage a coup without scrapping it? In reality, they managed to do it in just a matter of days.   Once the coup happened, people erupted. They were devastated. They saw it as democracy being stolen through sheer force. But let’s take a moment to really think—had we actually achieved democracy? Was the 2016–2020 period truly democratic rule? We often analyze things through comparison. C...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yadanabon Mandalay: A Visit to the Timeless Beauty and Cultural Fortress of Myanmar

Mandalay royal moat and city wall (Pic: Tourism Myanmar) I wish you ever pay a visit to Shwe Man once It’s an enjoyable place, it’s our iconic city So beautiful with waters shimmering And emerald-green palace walls With turrets and banquettes Surrounded by the moat All bright in the sunlight reflecting HUMMING Shwe Man Si Tho [To Golden Mandalay], a famous song in praise of Mandalay, I set foot on the grounds of our former royal city. Surrounded by the dark Shan Plateau far to the east, Mandalay Hill to the north, and the Sagaing Hills across the Irrawaddy River to the west, enchanting Mandalay immediately captivated me, a Yangonite. My former doubts about the city’s reputation, expounded in many songs and poems, suddenly disappeared. I felt like a foreigner experiencing Myanmar for the first time. Women riding motorcycles; old, nearly empty reconstructed wooden-frame Chevrolet buses from World War II that moved slowly; beautifully designed buildings; clean streets intersecting at righ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Police Training Is Wrong Prescription for Systemic Ill

EU Ambassador to Burma Roland Kobia poses for a photo with members of the Myanmar Police Force. (Photo: Facebook / European Union Delegation to Myanmar) The police’s handling of protesting students this week at Letpadan in Pegu Division has appalled much of the world, yet again putting Burma in international headlines for all the wrong reasons. Photos of baton-wielding police savagely beating up helpless students and their supporters immediately spread via social media, drawing heavy condemnation from domestic and international audiences alike. Perhaps more deplorable than the brutal use of force against the demonstrators is that this same police force has been receiving training from the European Union since September 2013, a program that is described as seeking to professionalize this checkered institution. The European bloc has poured €10 million (US$11 million) into training the police, one component of the program being lessons in crowd management and riot policing. Brussels decid...
Post a Comment
Read more