"The Groom of Fallen Stars" by Min Ko Naing

"The Groom of Fallen Stars," illustration by K. Wong.

"The Groom of Fallen Stars," also known as "Son of Fallen Stars," is a poem closely associated with the late Taya Min Wai (1966-2007). Sometimes it's mistakenly attributed to him. However, the authorship belongs to Burmese student leader Min Ko Naing.

In 2007, at Taya Min Wai's funeral, Min Ko Naing read "The Groom of Fallen Stars" ("Kye Kway Thadothar") as a tribute to his former friend and fellow dissident. At the time, Burma was still in the tight clutch of a repressive military regime with little tolerance for acts of defiance. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that those attending the funeral did so at considerable risk to their own personal safety.

During the previous regime, the poem was circulated by words of mouth and clandestinely distributed among the dissident community, but seldom openly performed. Today, it's been widely republished online and in print. It's often quoted and recited during the anniversary of Taya Min Wai's death.

Taya Min Wai, also known as Shwe Phone Lu or Chit Nyi Nyi, was a poet, novelist, and student leader in his own right. He was in jail from 1990 to 1994. It's believed that one of his acclaimed novels, The Moon of the Age of Flowers (Pan Khit Ka La Min), was conceived and written behind bars. In a Burmese anthology published to commemorate his passing (Remembering Taya MinWai, August 2009, Moemaka Multimedia), one of his former cellmates recalled that Taya Min Wai had a knack for composing poems by memorizing his lines. He was forbidden to possess pencils and papers.

The Burmese version is available here.

The Groom of Fallen Stars

1: My friend,
You nurtured your conviction
Like your own child.

2: My friend,
You
Burned your injuries like lamp oil.

3: My friend,
You
Could lick your own wounds
And resurrect.

4: My friend,
You had to
Drape your own skin,
Sharpen your bone into a needle,
Sew your own outfit,
And look marvelous in it.

5: Go ahead, my friend.
We must stay behind
To heal the best we could
The injuries of this world
Where the stars are falling, one by one.

6: Go ahead, my friend.
We must stay behind
To shield the earth’s wounds
From the many scorching suns
With our bare hands.

7: Go ahead, my friend.
We must stay behind
To write your poetry’s table of content
On the world’s vinyl record of grief.

8: Go ahead, my friend.
On the day the peacock banners
Fly once more along the campus wall
We shall ….