Shortly after translating several of Sunthorn Phu’s works, I was asked on Twitter if I would be able to translate ‘Pruedsopakasorn’, another famous poem. It’s been a few months, but I’ve finally gotten around to having a go at this translation.

This poem follows a Thai poetic structure called the kapyani 11. Some will argue that this is actually an example of another poetic structure called the intharavichienchan 11. In any case, it matches the rhyme scheme of the kapyani 11, shown below:

Here is the poem in the original Thai, followed by an English transliteration and a translation that retains the structure of the kapyani 11.

พฤษภกาสร   
อีกกุญชรอันปลดปลง
โททนต์เสน่งคง
สำคัญหมายในกายมี
นรชาติวางวาย
มลายสิ้นทั้งอินทรีย์สถิตทั่วแต่ชั่วดี 
ประดับไว้ในโลกา

Phruedsophakason
Eek kun chon un plod plong
Tho thon saneng khong
Samkan mai nai kai mee
Norachati wang wai
Malai sin thung in see
Sathit thua tae chua dee
Pradab wai nai loka

Elephants, cows, bulls
Lifespans full: they all die.
Their tusks and horns lie
Expired lives on display.
After our last breath
Death is death: we decay.
What of us will stay?
The good and bad we’ve done.

This poem was written by Somdet Phra Maha Samana Chao Kromma Phra Paramanuchitchinorot, the seventh Supreme Patriarch of Thai Buddhism (and also the son of King Rama I.) This is a famous work that Thais will often quote after someone’s passing. Tusks and horns are proof that animals such as elephants and cows once lived, states the poem, but our legacies — both good and ill — is what people in this world will remember after humans die.