To the Defenders of Kawmoora

[NBH03114@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

ERRORS-TO:INET:strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
FROM:NBH03114@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Burmese Relief Center--Japan
DATE:February 18, 1995
TIME 4:40PM JST
SUBJ:To the Defenders of Kawmoora 

The following is intended to offer encouragement to
the courageous defenders of Kawmoora, much in
our thoughts and prayers these days.  BRC--J

THEY FOUGHT AND DIED AT KAWMOORA   
The Tyrant sends his legions forth
Engines of death from the Cathay Khan (1)
Imported to Burma, once proud, no enslaved
"Crush the rebels", the Old Man raved. (2)

The Karen folk, Field of Victories lost
Ever free though their freedom be in death
Formed a last brigade, both vets and youth raw  (3)
"They shall not pass at Kawmoora".

SLORC's guns and bombs do tear the earth
Trees flattened, rivers red with blood
Fires ravage the once green hills
The Demon of War, his belly fills.

The Commander said, " tis true we erred"
"Our rule was not completely just" (4)
"But ten thousands boys and girls, 
their song so gay (5)
Laid down their lives for Kawthoolei".

"Shall the dream of liberty be forever lost
As old friends turn their backs on our fate?"
"Oh, Thais, were we the ones 
who fair Ayutthaya raped?  (6)
Not us, who in forest forts our liberty shaped".

At Thermopylae, that narrow pass, the Greeks held
back the Persian hoards. (7)
At Paris, the poor did rise, 
declared their regime, then died. (8)
At Stalingrad did Rurik slay the Nazi beast. (9)
Of all these great events and men, the heroes of
Kawmoora are not the least.

Scholar, your den warmed by books, 
exotic art and wifely love,
Remember those who fight and die a silent war
Remember the solemn oath 
they took those fatal days
"They shall not pass at Kawmoora".

     Donald M. Seekins
     February 18, 1995

notes:
1: Cathay Khan: "Cathay" is an old Western name
for China.  The Cathay Khan was Khubilai (1215-1294), who established the Yuan
 Dynasty.  But I use
this term to describe the despotic leaders of the
People's Republic of China.
2: The Old Man: Ne Win.
3.  "vets": war veterans.
4: "not completely just": refers to the alleged
discrimination against Buddhist Karens in the Karen
National Union by its Christian leaders.
5: "gay": in the old meaning of the word, meaning
"happy"; not in its newer meaning, which is
"homosexual".
6: "fair Ayutthaya raped": refers to the Burman
pillage of the Siamese capital in the eighteenth
century.
7: At the Battle of Thermopylae, a small number of
heroic Greek soldiers defeated a much larger army
of Persians, whose king was determined to subjugate
Greece (fifth century B.C.)
8: "their regime": refers to the Paris Commune of
1872, when workers took over Paris and established
a socialist regime.  It was suppressed brutally that
same year by French government troops.
9: "Rurik": the legendary founder of Russia.  Used
here to refer to ordinary Russian people, the "sons
and daughters of Rurik".