by Feraya

A country of great beauty

People so gentle and kind

There is also ugliness

And cruelty
Fleeing and hiding
And foraging food to survive
Our people are in pain
Suffering like no hell on earth
Darkness and despair
Surround them
A freedom is out of reach

Beaten and battered by life

Death and diseases
Of the mind and spirit
Swallowed up by gloominess
And bitterness
How can they carry on?
Each of us has a role to play

To help our countrymen

Not by hatred and blame
Not by giving false hope
Or ideas
Or concepts
But to see the big vision

A vision that’s not small or limited

A vision that’s a vast and spacious

So that Burma’s people may rise up

Like a beautiful lotus
From a muddy pond