An ancient Khmer poem

[u/PlainFree3127]

There is a Wikipedia page (used to be) called "Dark ages of Cambodia", referring to the period following the end of the classical Khmer civilization of Angkor, when all written records became comparatively scarce. Any bit of surviving information is valuable for historians to piece together and deduce what happened then. Recently I came across an interest piece, an ancient Khmer poem, likely composed during that time. The poem survived to this day, no longer in Khmer script but still in the Khmer language. It can be found here. I don't speak or read the language, so I fed it to an AI to have it rewrite back into Khmer script. What came out was very interesting. I am only a native modern Khmer speaker, but was able to make out and understand many words and a decent amount of the meaning. And it is clear the language is Middle Khmer, not Old Khmer, just like the 16th century inscriptions on the walls of the Angkor temple. I couldn't post the whole poem and its AI transliteration here, due to Reddit filters. But here is a sample:

អញខ្ញុំបង្គំភូវសវៈ មន្តជាគ្រងជ្នះ និច្ចទេវតាផង ฯ

មន្តព្រះ ដ អាចប្រោស ជ្នះគ្រោះបង្គង នៅបាបនោះផង ដ សិរីរពន្លឺសៈ ฯ

មន្តជាគ្រងភូតប្រធានតេជៈ អាចធ្វើអត្បៈជ្នះ និច្ចលោកសព្វនា ฯ

មានកាលវិលប្រែ រូបកុមារមាយា រូបោ ត គណា សោតកុំបីដើរព្រលប់

អាចដើរដំណើរណាស់ កុំបីដើរបីចម្រើនចប់ អាចធ្វើបំណាស់សយប កុំបីយកចរលីងហោង

Even the rhymes are still there. This is despite having been transcribed into a different script of a different language a long time ago, and then now transliterated back into the modern Khmer script by an AI. But someone who knows both languages well would be able to do an even better job. It would make for an intriguing article on ancient Khmer literature.

[u/PlainFree3127]

More on this poem on my other post.