Yet even though he was based abroad, he never stopped making observations about Taiwan. In Seattle Journal, he wrote about the Formosa Incident of 1979.
1980 年，楊牧再度透過報端得知美麗島人權律師林義雄母親與幼女慘遭殺害的「林宅血案」，他震撼且憤怒地寫下〈悲歌為林義雄作〉：