Stay Graceful

Your speech denotes your personality; your manner denotes your family.

 Khmer Proverb

"Thunder Romance"

I haven’t been able to update this blog for awhile. I was traveling, helping my niece
move across the country. Anyway, today I have a very old Khmer song to share.
The song is “Sontheuk Pkor Kraom” which loosely translates to Thunder Romance.
It was composed in baky buon (four-syllable metre). The four-syllable metre is the
oldest of the Khmer poetic metres. It predated the arrival of Hinduism
in Cambodia. It’s the metre which mostly found in songs.
“Sontheuk Pkor Kraom” had been adapted to mahori music. You can listen to
a recording of the song here. There are three stanzas in the original, but for
whatever reason they left out the last stanza in that mahori recording.

A roar of thunder echoed around the sky

Followed by another roar and another...  

I steered my lover toward the stable

Told her to take shelter inside.

With a heavy heart, I left my lover

Went looking for horses

But the horses were long gone.

A bundle of rolled up tobacco

Betel nuts wrapped in a shawl

Couldn’t quit my lover

I asked my wife for a divorce.

Source for the Khmer lyrics: Traditional Songs of Cambodia by Hang Sout, Em Chiey, Meas Saem (2004) Phnom Penh

 

“Pickin’ Flowers”

Love, what flowers do you pick? What flowers do you pick?

Oh my sweet love, do you pick areca blossoms?

Love, what flowers do you pick? What flowers do you pick?

Oh my sweet love, do you pick areca blossoms?

When you do pick them, when you do pick them,

Oh my sweet love, they are full of pollen.

When you do pick them, when you do pick them,

Oh my sweet love, they are full of pollen.

Love, what flowers do you pick? What flowers do you pick?

Oh my sweet love, do you pick coconut blossoms?

Love, what flowers do you pick? What flowers do you pick?

Oh my sweet love, do you pick coconut blossoms?

Emerge from their big pods, emerge from their big pods,

Oh my sweet love, the flower buds, the flower buds.

Emerge from their big pods, emerge from their big pods,

Oh my sweet love, the flower buds, the flower buds.

Oh grandparents, oh grandparents, oh my sweet love, the ancestors…

Oh grandparents, oh grandparents, oh my sweet love, the ancestors…

Accept my coconut blossoms, accept my coconut blossoms,

Oh my sweet love, grant me good fortune.

Accept my coconut blossoms, accept my coconut blossoms,

Oh my sweet love, grant me good fortune.

Bes Pka (Pickin’ Flowers) is a Khmer wedding song, one of the many

Khmer wedding songs. Wedding music, along with pinpeat (religious music),

mahori (secular music) and funeral music, made up the four categories in

classical Khmer music.

Areca blossoms, pka sla in Khmer, come from areca palms. The blossoms

are thrown by relatives and guests at the bride and bridegroom as blessings.

It’s one of the many traditional elements in Khmer weddings.

The Little Farm Boy

I'm just a little farm boy

I'm just a little farm boy

No merchant's son am I

I love my folks, I drink no booze

I smoke some hash, it's true

And honk as loudly as a goose

And am as thoughtless, too.

At dawn I rise

My hair untouched by comb or brush

Out under the sun I tan my tush.

Work's not worth the worry

Work’ll ruin you, surely!

Love on Cowback by Hak Chhay Hok, English translation by Nic Bozanic

Believing is Seeing

What the mind does not know, the eye cannot see.

 Khmer Proverb

Contented Home

Griha oy phcit phcam

Kum oy phan phuy dhuli

Jamrah par pos ti

Oy hmat hman koet sukha.

Anjuli duk oy gan

Prak knun than duk oy ja

Proe khnum moel mukh va

Doh kac ja moel oy staen.

Let your house be spick and span

With no dust rising.

Clean, rake and sweep the ground

So that its neatness will cause content.

Put your needles away safely

And keep carefully the money in your purse.

When you give orders to your servants, look at their faces

To see whether they are good or ill-natured.

Stanzas 18 & 19 of Chbab Kerti Kal (Codes of Conduct: Hereafter)

Composed in Pad Brahmagiti (Brahma’s Song Metre) 17th Century or earlier

Transliteration by Judith M. Jacob

Let It Go

You must learn to endure fleeting things; they come and they go.

Mahabharata (4th century BCE) by Vyasa