jinmen 1978

footsteps echo through
dank caverns lit by lonely bulbs
that played off the eddies in these

canals beneath jinmen island
where ships once hid in caverns
and shells contained leaflets

of propaganda for fatigued sons
of the ones who built the caverns
and knew that bombs would fall

every monday wednesday friday
and in turn sent out shells on
tuesday thursday saturday

to tell the other side about 'jinmen'
just as the artillery shells addressed
themselves to 'citizens of quemoy'