Friday, February 16, 2024

A Martyr is a Poem - for Alexei Navalny

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

A Martyr is a Poem

 

For Alexei Navalny

 

“Only in Russia is poetry respected; it gets people killed.”

 

-Osip Mandelstam

 

His soul was a poem; upon it he wrote

Of hope for Russia’s peoples frozen in pain

A poem of stern rebuke to Rolex tyrants

Who censored him with beatings, poison, and death

 

 

He spoke

He died

Because he spoke he died

Because he spoke the truth he died

 

They left his unfinished poem upon the ice

His soul was a poem – we must complete his verse

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