Virginia Lu: May 2012

Saturday, May 19, 2012

HYACINTH'S WAY BY ZAWGYI

Hyacinth's Way (14)

THE BEAUTY OF THE CREEK

Feeling uneasy, the reed-piper comes down to the water,
Where up and down floats Ma Beda,
The place she wearily traversed;
The reed-piper's interest with songs and musical verse,
With endless ups and downs, always on her way,
How tired she'll be! his songs say.

Oh! my mister piper,
With the waters full the Beda flowers,
Flow up-water in line, spritely and fine
Level with the shore,
The beauty of the creek at rise, as before.

Oh! you little piper,
When the waters fall the Beda flowers,
Pull away from the shore to mid-waters,
The expanse of mudflats to left and right,
And in the midst is Ma Beda,
The beauty of the creek at ebb, a scenic sight.

Like the rise and ebb never ending,
A recurring performance, ascending and descending;
I, the traveler, Ma Beda
If I be tired let it be so, to speak
For I had born and built a beauty at this creek.

Zawgyi

(Rangoon University Annual Magazine, 1959-1960)

Water hyacinth

(Called Beda flower in Burmese)

Friday, May 11, 2012

HYACINTH'S WAY BY ZAWGYI

Hyacinth's Way (13)

STILL KEEPING THE SHOP

An up-country boat to sell up-country goods,
Rests in the tidal creek;
Jaggery and all kinds of peas, you should
They say, buy while you meet.

A fishing boat to sell fishery goods,
Rests in the tidal creek;
Spotted prawn and various kinds of fish, you should
They say, buy while you meet.

Close to the bank, a potter's raft with goods,
Rests in the tidal creek;
A hundred viss holding pot and others to sell, you should
They say, buy while you meet.

Close to the bank, a bamboo raft with goods,
Rests in the tidal creek;
Slender bamboo and differing kinds to sell, you should
They say, buy while you meet.

Time and again on the tidal way, the flower Beda
Riding the flow recalcitrantly with the rising and falling waters,
When asked she has anything to sell,
None like others, does she tell;
With a yellow patch on blue,
Though happy in the rising true,
To deny the falling ebb, she never will,
In the tidal creek's waters, that winds and meanders
She's keeping shop still.

Zawgyi

(Rangoon University Annual Magazine, 1959-1960)