"Birdsong," a poem by Maung Sein Win (Padigon)

Birdsong, illustrated by Kenneth Wong in Autodesk SketchBook Pro

Maung Sein Win (Padigon), or Maung Sein Win of Padigon Town, is best known for his exquisite love poems, written mostly in the four-syllable rhyme scheme that originated in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 2013, soon after Burma emerged from the shadow of its 50-year-long military rule, Maung Sein Win became the first poet from the country to win the Southeast Asia Writers Awards (SEA).

In an interview with The Nation of Bangkok,  Maung Sein Win pointed out, "The bird you're reading about may not be a bird."

For Burmese poets like Maung Sein Win, using metaphors, symbols, and coded phrases is second nature. That's what it took to elude the military regime's heavy-handed censor board, known by its sinister name Sar Pae See Sit Yae, or The Board of Literary Scrutiny.

In "Birdsong," the narrator forces its winged brethren to make a choice: Stay behind in the nest, or fly away. The journey ahead, however, is not for the faint-hearted. The flock must confront raging storms and wildfire. What makes the perilous flight worthwhile, the narrator argues, is the peacocks' singing in the forest beyond.

It's a not-so-subtle reference to the democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) Party flies a peacock banner. During military rule, such pro-dissident messages were common in the works of Burmese authors, despite frequent government crackdown, despite the threat of prison or worse.

Today, under Burma's quasi-civilian government that professes to support press freedom, poets and writers like Maung Sein Win are safe from persecution in principle. In reality, they still face the old guard's and hardliners' efforts to silence them. Earlier this year, in February, a literary talk featuring Maung Sen Win and a number of authors was cancelled, due to pressure from those who dislike the panelists' pro-NLD stance. Around the same time in North Okkalapa in the outskirt of Rangoon, another literary talk was cancelled when religious conservatives took issues with the participation of a Muslim legal scholar.

In a literary talk held in Japan in 2012, Maung Sein Win said, "Our aim is to see that our fighting peacocks become dancing peacocks one day. If our country is peaceful and tranquil, no peacock would feel the need to be hostile or kick and claw. They'd rather sing sweet songs and dance together. That's our goal."

The audio recital below is by my Burmese friend, a young lady who says she prefers to be known as Jane Eyre.

Birdsong 

By Maung Sein Win (Padigon) 
Translated from Burmese by Kenneth Wong 

Farewell, if you won’t come along,
Then stay behind in the nest.

One day we’ll be close enough,
Let’s collect our spirit for the journey ahead.
We’re birds … and must die flying.

Like a stampede,
A storm churns before us,
And wildfires all around us.

Lions don’t feed on grass,
Tigers don’t pounce on mice,
And lizards won’t be alligators
In the lush, green forest yonder,
Where the peacocks sing.
With tireless wings and double the vigor,
Let's fly on. Let's die flying  
And make history as birds.