Bobbing on the breeze blown waves
Bowing to the tide
Hyacinth rises and falls
Falling but not felled
By flotsam, twigs, leaves
She ducks, bobs and weaves.
Ducks, ducks by the score
Jolting, quacking and more
She spins through—
Spinning, swamped, slimed, sunk
She rises, resolute
Still crowned by petals.
Translated from the Burmese by Lyn Aye.