Music in Our Hearts

I have been looking for you my love
Since the night of bloody murder and crackdown
Vanished as if you never existed
Impossible
Just look in and see
To find images of yourself still in me
A broken heart tired from 16 years of solitary confinement
When
I am unprepared and unable to retreat
(On the high ridges of the Shan plateau?)
Without warning
Suddenly there you are with your long soft flowing hair
Ablaze in the glow of the emerald sunset and the golden horizon
Pink cheeks and sparkling smiles between the soft lips of chaste innocence
I had stood tall in front of the military
And found strength under the burden of brutality
Still never defeated by their hopeless savagery
But
Here I am
As the gentle image of you floats in front of me
With thumping heart and trembling knees
My whole world has gone soft underneath
Never lonelier than now
Though you are only a breath away
Never colder as I laid dead, alone on the subterranean gutter of Burma’s ancient dungeon
Never ever more in pain
More in love
Beneath the piercing lights and the burning sun
I can no longer tell what I really need
About how I really feel
About you
About our love
About our lives
About our people
About the sky above Burma
For you are
A star in the silky veil above the cosmic cloud
So hard to remember now but so easy to feel
A fading face I knew long ago so well
Crisp clean lean sensual soft full youth that has long passed
Without even a shadow left
How do I continue a life void of essences and dreams?
How do I play again my black violin?
How do I begin once more without your soft whispers,
To give my senses the reasons?

This is dedicated to Min Ko Naing and our other heroes who spent their lives on the concrete floors of Burma prisons so that we may see freedom some day.
May the music of Aung San Suu Kyi, Min Ko Naing and Khun Tun Oo flourish in Burma soon.