Na Win Myint - Essays on the Season of the Year

Cold and rainy season

My mother gave birth to me in the month of Aquarius. Among all the blessings I have received from my mother, I don't think I can repay her for giving birth to me in the month of Aquarius. My mother didn't know about Aquarius, she didn't know about Aquarius. She only knew about the moon of the zodiac.

"My son was born in the middle of the month of Tapot-doe, in the cold season and the hot season, and your father was born in the middle of the month of fire and water."

My mother told me. In fact, the word Aquarius comes from the word 'Aquarius'. A pot full of water or a pot of cold water. Western zodiacs also depict the Aquarius male. It is related to water. It is the eleventh month in the twelve zodiac signs (The Zodiac). People born between January 21st and February 19th.

The word 'ta po' means palm bud. 'Twe' means hanging. In that month, palm buds are pulled down and palm sap is drunk. The flower of the season is 'pauk'.

There is a big tree in front of our house. The tree is in the courtyard, so it is close to the cart path. At the foot of the tree is a stone pillar that marks the milestone. It is a small stone pillar with a pointed tip. The tip of the milestone is where I sit in the evening. In my birth month, when the flowers bloom, the whole tree is full of flowers. In our village, we use the word 'Ye Padaung Khat' to refer to this tree.

"The whole tree is covered in a big red rose, it's so beautiful... It's not the same as the red rose, it's not the same as the red rose, the red rose has a beautiful yellow color, the red rose is beautiful, the red rose is beautiful."

My mother also used to call me "A" sometimes. There was a big yin tree near the village monastery. They called it the yin tree of the Buddha. It must have been the flower that bloomed when the Buddha was born. Having heard this, I expressed my idea at the rice circle. It was said that the flowers bloomed on my birthday.

"Mom, the big yam tree in front of my house is blooming."

"Hey, there's no one in front of our house... just a tree."

"Isn't that my ancestor?"

My mother laughed until she burst into laughter. Then she became more serious and scolded me, "Never say anything like that again. Don't be so arrogant. You'll be struck by lightning, what's the point?"

I don't understand the laughter and the scolding. What's wrong?

I love red poppies very much. I remember sitting on the top of a pillar in the evenings and watching them bloom. The yellow leaves of the poppies fell to the ground as they fell. The trunk of the big poppies rose to the top. The branches of the poppies were like paintings. The underside of the yellow leaves was as soft as silk. Because of this silk, the whole poppies looked like a smoky pink from a distance. Before the leaves turned yellow, the poppies were olive green, and each red flower stood out from the green. The red flowers had small, orange petals at the bottom, making them look beautiful. Later, when I studied botany, my teacher said, "That color is called 'salmon-pink.'"

I remember being taught that. The flower is called Flame of the Forest.

On the way to our village school, there was a row of tamarind trees. In my birth month, the tamarind trees would bloom with a sweet fragrance. When I was young, I didn't miss them, but as I grew up, I started to miss the tamarind leaves for some reason. I read Saya Mya Than Tint's survey of the tamarind season every time my birth month came around. It was because I missed them.

'I don't know if it's because of the moon. I miss the moon the most when it's early summer. The time when I miss the moon the most is from the new moon of Tapot-dwe to the full moon of Tapot-dwe. In Taboung, the weather is too hot. The scenery is too dry. The mirages are too sharp. In Tapot-dwe, it's not too hot, not too cold. "Winter is over, summer is not yet here, the time of the spring equinox is still in full swing.

"The summer solstice is a symptom of my summer longing. It is also a marker of my homesickness."

Last month, we went on a literary tour to Yinma Pin, Pale, and Min Taien villages. After returning from Min Taien, we entered Pale and passed through the intersection of Kyat Teck (Kya Teck) and passed near the villages of Myaing Re Sa Kyaw. Although we were close to Myaing, we did not reach Myaing. However, we passed through Myaing Yeik. We saw villages with rows of tama trees and villages with palm trees. The palm trees were very thick.

The winter is still here among the palm trees. The young leaves of the tamarind are covered with mist. It is a kind of brilliance that is difficult to see through. No sound comes from the green forest. The desert foothills of the silent summer are lonely, no oaks, no willows, no birches. There are only goldenrods, tamarinds, and tamarinds.

Although it is not yet summer, I can see the shadow of summer, and while the leaves are rolling, the old tree trunks are showing the young shoots of the crickets. They want to spread the green leaves in the hot world, and I think we can call the rainy season spring. We are not old enough to call it early spring or late spring. Myanmar spring or the spring of the mind is different from the European spring. Then I remembered Saya Dagon Wattara's "Tamarayib, Sunflower and African Daisy".

'The poet is at a crossroads. The poet grew up in Tamarayek and became a poet by reading contemporary poetry books. But he dreams of rowing a boat on a stream where the flowers of the Vedas float. But the noise of his contemporaries pierces his longing, his melody. Tamarayek moves and leaves.

Then he left the shade of the tamarisk and stepped onto the asphalt road. He could smell the scent of dhasi. He still missed the scent of tamarisk.

I saw yellow sunflowers all along the way, so I compared Mao's Heman Oo to sunflowers. I was staring at the flower shop selling African daisies at Aung Pan Station. In the next ten years, a new young poet will compose this daisy.

"This train is wandering at the crossroads. Is it the longing for the shade of the palm tree, the sunflower, the African daisy? The past or the future?"