At Monkey's Cliff Poem by RIC BASTASA

in this place many japanese
pilots committed harakiri
at the end of that short airstrip
is the cemetery
which was kept secret for years
until an american posed in there
with the caballo island as a shadow

sort of background
the tour guide named momet says
with historical expertise
who having worked for quite a long time
may not felt each word uttered

the japanese tourists inside the bus
did not blink
their jaws stiffened
like the walls of the malinta tunnel

you must have already known
how cruel are the effects of war
how everyone have become losers
how the dead slept in the hollowed grounds
of this earth
not having received the true worth of
their sweat, blood and tears

this the tour guide says again
her eyes smiling