Coming to Tabuwon after the month-long siege is lifted,
I see autumn clouds dappling its hills.
After the cannon roar raged for a month
Attacking and defending,
I realize how Taegu
Tabuwon is located.
To keep this small village
As part of our free republic
Even grass and shrubbery
Had to die
Oh, do not ask
For what Cause
The land had to suffer such ruin.
The head of a war horse
Severed while rearing toward heaven.
The corpse of a Communist soldier
Seeming to weep in remorse.
We were brothers under the same sky
Until a short while ago.
Now, though cooled by the autumn breeze,
Tabuwon stinks like rotting fish.
If there was no Fate governing life and death
And we had no faith in Fate's purpose,
What rest could there be for these pitiful dead?
The Tabuwon I survived to see
Offers no response to the living or the dead.
Only the wind stirs it.
-Cho Chi-hun
