Lawrence Hall, HSG
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
