It's about Time

Such bitter feelings can be seen in the poem of a young man who journeyed to the Thai border to join the All Burma Student’s Democratic Front (ABSDF). He wrote a poem about his brother, a captain in the Tatmadaw, published in the ABSDF’s Dawn Oh Wai (Cry of the Peacock) magazine.


It’s About Time They See It. It’s About Time They Correct It
By Bo Si (Theh Gon)

Big brother,
Don’t look down on me with a sneer.
Do you dare to fight back the eyes and the smiles of the people?
Expose your knees which have knelt under the BSPP and look.
They are covered with scars.
Aren’t you ashamed?
Look at my knees which didn’t kneel under the BSPP.
There are no scars.

Big Brother,
Are you going to remain silent, raising your forefinger and nodding,
For the good of a group of evil spirits who are crazy for power?
Don’t you know that the stars on your shoulders and your salary come from
The people’s blood and sweat?
Which one are you going to look at?
The stars on your shoulders or the faces of the people?

Extracted fom “Living Silence” by Christina Fink. Chapter 5-Families.

Note : BSPP = Burma Socialist Programme Party

The poem was written a couple of decades ago. But this poem remains true to the present days if we substitute BSPP with SPDC.

May our soldiers understand! May they try to remove the scars on their knees!