Page 111 - The lraternational Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand.indd

The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XV-2023

I was young, I was foolish, I was amazed,
In search of meaning, was I,
Hoping to find lots of things,
Alas, only a piece of paper, is mine.
(My translation, August 2023)

(In German) Ich war jung, ich war dumm, ich war erstaunt,
So machte ich mich auf die Suche nach dem Sinn.

Hoffe, viele Dinge zu erhalten,
Doch nur ein Blatt Papier ist zu gewinnen.
(My translation, April 1999/August 2023)

This poem, “Chan Chueng Maha Kwam Mai” (1971), puts not only the student

life at universities and the meaning of the university degree in question, but it also
reveals the limitation of literature in a search for the meaning of life.

Directly after the student revolution on the 14 October 1973 Naowarat Pong-
th
paibhun described the scenes on the “The most mournful Day” (ว์ันมหาว์ิปโยค), as called
by King Bhumibol, in his poem On the Day the Doves were Killed:

A picture, after picture, becoming clearer,
A shot after shot, on human body –
Day after day, more perceptible,
midst in memory, direct, vivid – openly.

(My translation, December 2004)

(In German) Ein Bild, nach einem Bild, immer klarer,

Ein Schuß, nach einem Schuß, auf den Leib getroffen –
Ein Tag nach einem andern, wahrnehmbarer,
mitten in Erinnerung, unmittelbar, deutlich und offen.

(Meine Übersetzung, April 1999)

Another poet took a traditional cradle song with a hero from the Ayutthaya
period during the war against the Burmese in 1767. The hero “Chao Kunthong” of 1973

no longer represents the hero of the past, but rather the students of the Revolution on
14 October 1973:
th

Pornsan Watanangura 103