Burma Beneath Mount Myanmar

[Burma VERSION 2, MODIFIED FIRST TWO STANZAS, TOOK OUT "MOCK"]

The generals nullify humility.
They proclaim:
We are the gods who

bring typhoons, keep out
the evil West. Let
the monks not in prison
the supposed holy
save their people.

We challenge their magic, because
we have the weapons, the Chinese,
the name change

We don't mind the joke
of a Nobel Peace Prize for
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
because we are the gods, and
monks are Burmese shamen on their knees
arrested at will, orange slices.

Could be an outlaw of Yeats
has swum across the lake
to see the elected leader
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, or
it might be a crazy American
who thinks Myanmar is Burma, and
magic
----------------------------------------
[Original]
The generals say
they are the gods, say:
we bring typhoons
keep out the evil West. Say
let the monks not in prison
alone try to save the people, because
they are the supposed holy we mock.

We challenge their magic, because
we have the weapons, the Chinese,
the name change

We don't mind the joke
of a Nobel Peace Prize for
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
because we are the gods, and
monks are Burmese shamen on their knees
arrested at will, orange slices

Could be an outlaw of Yeats
has swum across the lake
to see the elected leader
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, or
it might be a crazy American
who thinks Myanmar is Burma, and
magic

ref: New York Times, May 8, 2009, "World Briefing: Myanmar: U.S. Man Held In Swim To Dissident's Home,"pg.A13.