Kabar Ma Kyay Bu

I see tears,
I see smiles,
I see the shattering,
I see hope being born anew,
All hidden within one person.

I see nothing at all,
Only hear the tales.
They rise to fight,
Knowing well that victory is a lost poem.
Separation awaits them in the new morning,

They ask me not to ask again,
‘We have suffered enough,’
‘I just want to live,’
Wake up and have coffee in the new morning.

They just like me and you,
Humming a tune in the afternoon,
Gathering for dinner with loved ones in the evening,
Revealing in the lights,
Happy with capitalism,
Until one day, a ravenous demon,
Takes everything from them.

Taking the mother from the child,
Taking the loved one from the embrace,
Taking the teacher from the school,
Taking the doctor from the hospital,
Taking the future from the young,
Taking tears from the eyes,
Taking flesh and blood, torn by bullets.

They rise to fight,
With the instinct of a vertebrate,
Knowing well, it is a disaster,
A pact with the demon,
With freedom as the stake,
Being whipped and starved as the test,
Like a marathon runner who knows no finish line,
It lets them run… run on,
Endlessly,
Passed from generation to generation,
From grandfather to mother,
From mother to child,
And will continue for millennia.

From days to months, passing years,
They are far from home,
Forgetting the way back,
A home burned from memory,
A dream once formed,
Now must shatter.
My home is not their home,
Is it not welcome here?

I have never seen tears,
Only the person in front of me,
With flesh and skin,
Dreams just like mine,
Love and revolution,
Hatred for the demon,
That destroys those dreams.

It hunts,
Both in sleep and waking,
Reviving from nightmares,
To a bitter reality.

I have no words to say,
For words are meaningless,
I hate the wretched words,
That prattle on,
We cannot choose where we’re born,
But we can choose who to be.
Have you ever swapped places?
To know how foul this world is.

On the day, the sky doesn’t change colour,
They answered me,
What is tomorrow?
Is there really a tomorrow?
And if that day comes,
Will my life and dreams return?

Tomorrow,
Another day,
And another,
When will it come?
If tomorrow is hope,
It is hoped, distant by light years.

They tell me again,
It needs an army of demons,
It captures those they love,
One by one.

Those eyes,
A gaze that is both fierce and tender,
Conveying more than love,
But a yearning,
For freedom,
Life,
Spirit,
Dreams,

Words are meaningless,
For what I see,
Is the truth that says,
They will not stop fighting,
Until the end of the world.
When that day comes,
They and I,
Will sing,
The song of Kabar Ma Kyay Bu together.

The Song of Kabar Ma Kyay Bu means ‘We will never surrender until the world ends.’ It is a song used during the great democracy protests in Myanmar on August 8, 1988, known as the 8888 Uprising. The song of Kabar Ma Kyay Bu was heard again following the Myanmar coup on February 1, 2021, and has become a symbol of the revolution for the people of Myanmar.