Chapter Seven
1
Across the gorges, woods and mountainsThe partisans advance to the Amnok River
To cross its waters on their journey back.
This journey leads them not to bitter exile,
But to a glorious struggle of retribution.
The river seems to share their joyful feelings
And on the surface of its deep-blue waters
Bright silver glimmers
Greet Korea's warrior sons.
The night comes and beneath its cover
The partisans bind rafts together.
The work is drawing to a close
When from the distant hilly slopes
There comes a sudden rumbling of artillery.
The waters of the Amnok seethe in fury
At the explosions of the flying shells.
The rattle of machine-gun fire
Is borne upon the wind from far away.
The Japanese are hastening their troops
To pin the partisans against the Amnok,
Encircle them and kill them to a man.
"Surrounded!"
The thought roused a sudden terror,
Into the river
Plunged one of the warriors,
Soon to be followed by another.
But instantly two shots rang out behind them
Commander Kim's voice called "Obey my orders!"
And only the two traitors did not hear him--
Their bodies sank beneath the Amnok's waves
And were swept into darkness
By the rushing waters.
2
"Calm yourselves, friends!" came the command--"Continue with your work!"
In the hail of bullets
While a small covering detachment
Climbed up on to the cliffs,
Commanded by Chol Ho.
Then finally the rafts are ready,
And the main body of the partisans
Sets out under the cover of the mist
Towards the other shore.
The Japanese guns roar and rumble,
Raining down a steely lava,
As though some great volcano belching fire
Had erupted and engulfed the stilly night.
Two partisans were last to leap on board
The very final raft to leave the shore:
Chol Ho and his companion Sok Jun.
Then came a sudden blast
And Chol Ho fell unconscious
And very nearly tumbled from the raft.
3
Behind them in the mistThe Japanese were shouting.
Chol Ho awoke and saw them there.
He summoned all his strength
Into his wounded arm,
Pulled a grenade out from his belt
And tossed it straight into the enemy throng.
The blast was followed by the groans of Japanese.
Chol Ho took out the last of his grenades.
But then another shell fell on the raft,
And smashed it into two,
And through the smoke and flame
Chol Ho saw Sok Jun fallen on his back
Across the barrel of his soldier's rifle.
Chol Ho attempts to raise the stricken warrior,
But he is dead.
Another shell goes whining overhead...
Another blast...
The seething waters rise
And cover the two partisans forever.
4
The enemy lost heart and halted the bombardment,The rafts all landed on the distant shore,
And then a girl's voice called out in the darkness:
"Chol Ho! Sok Jun!"
The voice belonged to fair Kkot Bun.
"Chol Ho! Sok Jun!"
Called out the voice of the commander,
The ringing voice of
There was no answer.
Only the waves smashing against the rafts.
"Chol Ho! Sok Jun!"
Kkot Bun called out despairing.
There was no answer to the maiden's call.
Only the Amnok's waves pounding against the cliffs.
5
Upon the mountain slope, beside a cliff,The partisans stand motionless in ranks.
And there among them stands their own commander,
Together with Sun Son, Kkot Bun and all the rest.
But nowhere in the ranks is there a sign
Of either Chol Ho or Sok Jun.
The warriors gaze in wrath upon their homeland,
Enveloped in the inky black of night.
From the far shore they still can hear
The dull shots of pursuing rifles,
Fired in helpless fury.
"Comrades! My friends!" said
"For months and years we fought the enemy
On land that was not ours.
But this night we have broken through the cordon
Of Japanese garrisons to victory on our native soil!
Comrades! The enemy is powerful,
And we had to return across the Amnok,
Losing two valiant friends along the way,
And we do not know where their bodies lie..."
6
"My friends and brothers!"(The powerful voice resumed its steely ring.)
"Although the garrison we crushed last night
Was very small, the fire we lit there in that town
Will yet enflame the heart of our poor country,
And spark a blaze of struggle and resistance.
"Although attack was followed by withdrawal,
I have no doubt that we shall come again.
Long live Korea, Homeland, Mother!"
As he swore loyalty to his homeland,
Kim seized his bayonet
And raised the blade on high.
A forest of rifles sprouted up before him,
The partisans all shouted in one voice:
"Korea, we shall return!
As long as we shall live,
The enemy shall not break us!
For in our struggle we are not alone--
We have support from the land of the Soviets,
The hope of the oppressed,
The land that will rewrite the book of history.
The sword of retribution will destroy the samurai.
We shall sweep all the vermin from our country,
And our love of our Motherland
Will fan the flames of struggle for liberation!
Partisans! A volley!
For our victory in the bloody struggle!
Partisans! A volley!
To the memory of the heroes
Fallen in the sacred struggle!
Korea! For your happiness and freedom,
For democracy and happiness!"
The volley thundered out across the mountains
And on and on for three thousand ri.
Epilogue
Oh Paektu, sacred mountain,
The mountain crests are folded in your hands
Like the spokes of a fan.
Your grey mane floats on high above the clouds,
And for thousands of centuries you have seen
All that lies there below you.
Tell me, in that hour when the dawn arose
And clouds hung thickly in the sky
Above the bowl of the Lake of the Heavens,
Oh Paektu, sacred mountain,
Who did you greet that dawn?
Shaking his snow-white mane,
The ancient mountain Paektu answers thus:
"Harken to my words and I will speak.
The dawn arose upon our land
When the Tuman River was covered o'er with foam
From shells that fell into its waters,
And the partisans up on the mountain slopes
Send down a hail of fire upon the samurai.
The smoke of battle blew around me then
And I forgot my age and became young,
I met the Soviet warriors
Who crushed the marauders in the East and West.
I met the leader
My own beloved son,
So long awaited by Korea's people,
Their long-awaited conscience, will and hope,
The glory of his ancient homeland.
I met my children Sun Son and Kkot Bun,
And at my feet I saw how people wept
With tears of joy,
Pronouncing their new freedom,
And pronouncing my eternal life."
Then tell me, Oh great Paektu mountain,
What do you see now when the dawn arrives?
Shaking his snow-white mane,
The Mountain Lord makes answer thus:
"Today I see the free Korean people
Engaging in free labour,
The smoke of factory chimneys,
Fields belonging to the peasants,
Where abundant harvests ripen.
And finally, I see our
The leader of the Democratic Front.
I see the friendly Soviet warriors.
"Today I gaze on Moran Hill
And seem to see there in their millions
The free citizens of my native land,
Unified by a single common dream--
The future of Democratic Korea.
"The view is different down at Mt. Samgak's feet--
Reaction rages, and the mindless face of terror
Is exposed in all its vileness.
But still the voice of the Democratic Front
Is ever stronger.
Ever brighter are the green leaves
Of the pine grove on the Southern mountain."
Thus speaks the great Mountain Lord Paektu,
But gazing on the south part of our country,
He shudders in a furious rage,
Seizing the wind from off his icy heights
To hurl it into the Lake of the Heavens,
Rousing waves that rise up to the sky
And fall upon the rocky cliffs
So that their thunder shakes the earth
Upon its axis,
And Paektu mountain, shaking his white mane,
Gazes northwards, on beyond the Urals,
Then turns his gaze beyond the mountains of Kuenlun,
Up to the outcrops of the Himalayas,
Where China is constructing a new life.
In wrath he gazes out to the Pacific
To the land where Mount Fuji stands:
"Hear me and I shall speak.
Korea is being made anew here,
And alien forces cannot halt
The process of its building.
I proclaim--
A land of freedom,
A land of independence,
A land of people,
It will be strong as Paektu mountain,
And reach as high as Paektu mountain's peaks,
And shine bright as the great Lake of the Heavens!"