Room 205 | Section N2

Left to right: Island 108, Island 73, Island 92
揖別知己出外洋
豈知胡虜困我身
自古強權無公理
有何妙策出牢籠
一旦楼回歸國去
數月工程付水中
可惜馮唐容易老
何其李廣最難封
香山
I bowed farewell to my close friends and went abroad.
How was I to know the barbarians would imprison me?
From antiquity, users of brute force have had no sense of justice.
Are there any clever schemes to escape this prison?
If I am deported and sent back to China one day,
Then several months' efforts will have been thrown into the water.
What a pity that Feng Tang aged so easily.
Why was it most difficult for Li Guang to win honors?
Heungshan
Listen to the poem in Heungshan (Shekki, Long Du) ⏯
萬望革軍成功竣
維持祖國礦務通
造多戰艦來美境
滅盡白人誓不容
花邑人題
I have ten thousand hopes that the revolutionary armies will complete their victory
And help make the mining enterprises successful in the ancestral land.
They will build many battleships and come to the U.S. territory,
Vowing never to stop till the white men are completely annihilated.
By someone from Fayuan
Listen to the poem in Fah Yuen ⏯
詳恨番奴不奉公
頻施苛例逞英雄
凌虐華僑兼背約
百般專制驗勾蟲
I thoroughly hate the barbarians because they do not respect justice.
They continually promulgate harsh laws to show off their prowess.
They oppress the overseas Chinese and also violate treaties.
They examine for hookworms and practice hundreds of despotic acts.
Listen to the poem in Fah Yuen ⏯
Lai, H. Mark, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung, eds. Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940. Second edition. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014.