Golden Taungtwin

Centre most noble, land of victory,
The best of lands, peerless town,
Town of ‘a thousand levies’
Taungtwin by name, our golden city,
With its river of a moat, graceful, placid, deep,
And the lotus that bloom forth with the moon.
The city walls look as if strewn with corals,
Then its halls, paths, barricades and four great gates.
The palace with its sixty-cubit crossbeams
Has the pinnacle right in the centre.
Here resides the lord, with the royal family,
Keeping his precepts. There are
Countless famous pagodas, six-rayed temples
Where sacred relics are enshrined:
Intaung, Siykhoun, Htupayoun, and many more.
The other gems, the Doctrine and the Order, abound.
Full of pleasant things is my native place,
The best of places
How like the land of gods it is!

From its very foundation
The town has been a blessed place_
This my native town.
Never have I been to far-away strange places.
Now you, young Khin Nyo, have come to tempt me.
Well, I , Khin U, will answer in my sweet voice. Listen!
It will mean going far far away
Like a bird on flight
Or a bell sound that floats away
Or a man gone to sea
You say it is not so far off
Not the distance a hen may thoughtfully gaze at
Nor the distance a peacock may stare into.
Yet it is far away all the same,
Strange, other peoples’ territory.
You should not tempt me to come with you
We have been here long, so long,
Don’t think you can lure me away.

When it is the season we go visiting places:
To pagodas, to monasteries with ponds in them,
Well-dressed, riding palanquins,
The staffs of rank almost touching one another,
And the shadows mingling wonderfully.
Our have been wealthy families
From the days of the great-grandparents.
My parents are well-to-do people, never in want,
We do business in the market-place
With all manner of people,
People of our land, people from abroad,
People familiar, people strange,
People coming from far and near.
Eight qualifications have I.
Man of Golden Ava, tall man of emerald lustre,
Carelessly you say you love me at first sight
And want to live with me.
Guarded as I am by my dear parents,
How can I come away with you?
Bound fast by affection, firm in my moral habits,
I am not one to be tempted away.