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