Lin Lae Lae La: Selected Poems
by Maung Sein Win
Translated by Ei Ei Tin and James Green
60 Poems ~ English/Burmese ~ 147 pages
Cover design: James Green
Price: $7.00
Publisher: Myanmar Refugee Education Fund
ISBN: 9798263020972
To Order: Amazon.com
Reviewed by Michael Escoubas
Whether in times of peace or in times of war, the world turns to poets for clarity and truth. Truth and clarity are hallmarks of Lin Lae Lae La: Selected Poems by Maung Sein Win. Expertly co-translated by Ei Ei Tin and James Green, their translations strike a balance between two extremes: a literal, word-for-word rendering in the writer’s original language or one that attempts to capture, in English. the collection’s spirit. The completed work features the original language by Maung Sein Win juxtaposed with the co-translated English version.
The people living in Myanmar (formerly Burma) have known only sporadic periods of peace since the end of World War II. Political upheaval is the common denominator addressed by Maung Sein Win. The poet’s major thematic categories include Loss and Longing, Politics of War, and Hope for Better Days. As an America writer, I have never had to deal with the scourge of war in my homeland. This certainly places me at a disadvantage in reviewing a collection that is devoted to the trauma of destroyed villages, slaughtered loved ones, and a political-military establishment tailored to get and retain power.
With that said, what I can do is fix within my soul, Maung Sein Win’s poems which take me to these villages, to those who mourn their loved ones, and who live everyday longing for a new day that waits just beyond the horizon.
Maung Sein Win, penname Padigone, uses metaphor effectively. “A Tree That Cannot Die” stands for that which lingers long in the lives of oppressed people:
Memories will not be refused
nor can they be killed.
Like a seed once planted
that grows into a tree
and bears the fruit
that grows in its own time
they do not die.
Such depth of thought reveals the resolve of Myanmar’s people. In the words of the New Testament writer St. Paul, [we are] “known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful yet always rejoicing; poor yet possessing everything.” *
This excerpt from “Lamentation” reveals the mountain of corruption the people face:
A spirit that lives in the heart
should be a government’s source of justice. Of peace.
Rule of law we cannot see but feel
is perfection.
When there is no law,
when there is no justice,
nor peace, nor shelter in forests,
where despair stifles hope
and corruption is common as torture in jails,
this is the land of poverty, of ruin.
I am moved by the poet’s emphasis on the spiritual dimension of life. His argument is not about gaining material things. It is not about government providing physical sustenance. It is about what compassionate rule should look like … what it should emphasize: it is about that which resides inside those who are governed … A spirit that lives in the heart. The peace within is the only true and lasting peace. “Lamentation” continues:
My dear Ayeyarwaddy,
we may covet the fortune of others,
the justice in other lands,
but here is our zatipunya.
Here the soil is our flesh, the trees our bones.
We yearn to walk again in the moonlight
on a pathway lined by Margosa trees.
We mourn … yes, we mourn.
In the spirit of “zatipunya,” which means attachment to and commitment to their homeland, Maung Sein Win, marries country and people in an unbreakable bond of intimacy.
The poem “Aung San” pays tribute to the Father of the Nation, (13 February 1915 – 19 July 1947), whose spirit lives on despite that leader’s brutal assassination:
For an instant it rained
and the heat of summer faded away.
One tree stands alone,
yet the whole forest is touched by its fragments.
The moon shining over the whole nation
had only a moment to brighten the land.
Though he’s no longer here,
he remains present.
Though he speaks no more,
his voice is heard.
He does not age, nor does he suffer.
Even in death, he does not die.
He lives in the hearts
of his people.
Maung Sein Win instinctively knows that a nation’s heroes, their personalities, and values forms a foundation upon which to build the future. Aung San’s purity of heart, clarity of political thought, and love of independence is heard even as it emanates from the grave.
Something history teaches is that persecuted people never lose their fervor that things will change … that things will get better … that a new day is waiting to emerge. As I noted above Maung Sein Win’s major themes include Loss and Longing, Politics of War, and Hope for Better Days. The miniature “Love and Compassion,” for this reviewer, captures the essence of all three:
With love,
dare not in frenzied passion pluck
the fragrant jasmine from its stem.
And when compassion’s age is come,
dare not discard the withered bloom.
Its fragrance is not done.
The pathos of this collection has moved its reviewer. Though Myanmar is a nation far removed, geographically from America, its struggles and history yield valuable lessons even for us.
*Second Corinthians 6.9-10
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