Myanmar Cyclone Victim (1) End Of Karma Wheel. Poem by U Win Kyi

2008.5.2 night was the night of terror,
Howling wind drowned out the scream of horror,
Heavy rain lashed,
Againt the shack,
Built of thatch,
Which easily collapsed,
Like a house of card,
Washed away in a torrent of flood,
So murky with mud,
So blinded in the night by the dark,
I survived owing to a little luck,
After clinging to the branch of tall tree,
At dawn, from the jaw of death I was free.

But I am not happy,
Because my village is like a cemetery,
No home is left undestroyed,
No family is left without weep or cry,
No land is left which is dry,
Dirty salty sea water is everywhere,
Bloated dead bodies of human and animal floating here and there,
The putrid smell fills the air,
It is like a living hell,
But neither bad dream nor nightmare,
The survivors are with hands empty and bare,
The hunger and thirst so intense, they have to suffer,
The epidemics is lurking with its snare,
Flying in the sky are vultures,
Ready to devour the carcasses as a scavenger,

I feel guilt that I am alive,
To the flood I should have a dive,
From this living hell, I want to be free,
I regret I clung to that tree,
I beg Buddha on my knee,
To help me end the Karma Wheel.