32.  The Ghost of Lasting Peace

( A Sonnet)

Cross across her breast she lay,

A martyr in full bloom of life.

A red cloth was her mocking shroud

With sickle and hammer sewn thereon.

The Red Guards with their clenching fists

Have rushed the virgins off their cells.

Satan stalks the streets of Peking

With fire and brimstone for a blast.

From surging fire and swirling smoke

Will rise the ghost of lasting peace.

The scorching flames will char to death

Man and bird and beast alike.

Oh, for the waving olive branch!

Oh, for the soaring pigeon white!

(Written at the time of persecution of Christians

by Mao tse Tung )