Ode To Liu Xiaobo Poem by Ajit Das

An empty chair!
His presence was denied
to receive the award;
the message of peace forbidden
as a brand of the West.

The dragon raised the wall,
spewing yellow fire,
stifling the voice of dissent
within the prison cell.
The outside world was shut off.

Days dawned; nights deepened.
Afflicted with a disease,
he suffered political chill too.
Nobody knows how he was
treated behind the bars.

The dark of confines took its toll.
Deadly cancer ate
into the vitals of his body.
Then it was terminal; he died,
isolated under armed guard.

A stubborn truth-teller,
he fought for freedom - freedom
from forceful tyranny
of one-party rule, championing
non-violence in resistance.

A grim ending in custody,
still censored in death,
reverberates the clarion call
of democracy across the borders.
His soul will live forever in memory.