Navalny!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIA

Navalny!

 

Alexei Navalny is dead

At the age of forty-seven

In the prime of life

Dead in an arctic gulag

Dead of unknown causes

Dead of voicing dissent

Dead of rising to prominence

Dead of speaking eloquently

Dead of exposing corruption

Dead of opposing oppression

Dead of defying Vladimir Putin

 

We know what killed Navalny

We know who was behind it

On the eve of a mock election

We know who killed Navalny

And the tears of Mother Russia

Rain down across the land

And the tears of Russian mothers

Join the tears of Russian soldiers

And the rivers rise in sorrow

 

Here was a man who knew

Here was a man who towered

Here was a man who spoke out

When so many others fell silent

Here was a man who gave his life

So that others might live free

 

Navalny!

 

Let his name outlive his tormentors

Let his dream live on forever