In The Quiet Land by Aung San Suu Kyi

{Poem of the Day}

This poem is for Aung San Suu Kyi, who is visiting the US and was awarded a US Congressional Gold Medal. Says UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon about Suu Kyi, "She is now a global symbol of human rights. We have great expectations and hope that she will lead this path of reconciliation and greater participatory democracy and development of her country."

This mural was created by Shepard Fairey and can be found here

"In the Quiet Land"

By Aung San Suu Kyi (1945 - present)

In the Quiet Land, no one can tell

if there's someone who's listening

for secrets they can sell.

The informers are paid in the blood of the land

and no one dares speak what the tyrants won't stand.

In the quiet land of Burma,

no one laughs and no one thinks out loud.

In the quiet land of Burma,

you can hear it in the silence of the crowd

In the Quiet Land, no one can say

when the soldiers are coming

to carry them away.

The Chinese want a road; the French want the oil;

the Thais take the timber; and SLORC takes the spoils...

In the Quiet Land....

In the Quiet Land, no one can hear

what is silenced by murder

and covered up with fear.

But, despite what is forced, freedom's a sound

that liars can't fake and no shouting can drown.

To find out more about this inspirational woman, go here.