Mother's Love (Speaking Heart Of A Mother) Poem by U Win Kyi

I am going to tell you a story,
Which is very famous in Myanmar literature history.
Once there was a young man living near a city,
With his widowed mother happily and peacefully.
One day he met a beautiful young lady.
Then he fell in love, head over heel and very crazy.
He asked for her hand and tried to marry.
But he was so poor that he could not pay the dowry.
She asked him for his mother's heart as a proof of his love.
Thinking it was impossible for him to bring her....his MUM's heart.

He was put in a state of dilemma,
To tell or not to tell his 'Mama'.
The young lady was in high social caste,
She was unreachable so he drank wine glass after glass.
To drown his sorrow.
As if there were no tomorrow.
He was always in bad mood,
About that, his MUM never understood.
He spent many a sleepless night,
Keeping his sad feeling inside.
Very often he breathed a deep sigh,
Sometimes his unhappiness which he could not hide.

Before that, he was always happy, cracking jokes,
Now he looked grouchy, grumpy and angry without any hope.
Before that, he was always smile,
Now his MUM saw it only once in a while.
Before that, he usually ate a lot of rice,
Now he ate less and less because he had no appetite.
His body became thinner and thinner,
His mind became feebler and feebler.
Once his energy was like that of a raging bull,
His mind so agile, his movement so brisk.
Now a famous doctor had nothing which he could do.
Because he looked like a dying rooster.....so sick.

One day his MUM asked him because she could no longer withstand.
Then she knew her son was severely love-stricken.
Her son told her about making a deal,
He had nothing to conceal,
Everything he had to reveal.
After listening, his MUM grabbed the knife,
Without caring a bit of her life,
She cut open her chest,
Taking out her heart in a bloody mess,
For rescue he didn't call for help,
It was a thing of the saddest,
'Oh, my darling, you are mine! ' he thought instead.

Running to his young lady, with the heart in both hands,
He stumbled over a stone and had fallen.
The heart dropped to the ground,
He got up, searched for and then it was found.
As he tried to pick it up,
Then the heart started to speak like that.
' Oh, my beloved son, where did you get hurt? '.
After a while the heart stopped beating,
Then the son started to make chest-beating,
With a loud cry and a long wailing.

He realised he was so blinded by the lust,
Overwhelmed by the sexual urge,
His brain so clouded and thinking was very nut.
His repent and remorse came very, very late.
Blaming his unlucky fate,
His love turned into a bitter hate.
His future was totally destroyed.
He no longer was MUMMY boy.
His life ended in tragedy.
The young lady was married to a man with a big money.

The story is retold again and again at bed-time.
The song made from it is sung as a lullaby.