For Andre Sakharov
The Freest Man
Sometimes the freest man
is the one who sings his songs
from the tyrants cage.
He is the freest
because he has taken a stand
and the mightiest armies
of the mightiest nations
cannot still the song,
for once it has been sung
and heard,
there will always be some voice
in some little corner
who will remember it.
Sometimes the freest man
is the one who lives locked away,
separated from all he loves,
separated from all he has lived for,
watching his days slip away,
but knowing his individual suffering
has subtracted from the suffering
of his fellow men.
Sometimes the freest man
is the one who sacrifices all of his talents
and all of his honors
for one moment of truth.
He is the one the tyrants fear
because there is nothing that they can steal
or with-hold
to imprison his soul.
Sometimes the freest man
is the one who holds up his head,
and in a voice
louder than the rattle of his chains
says; "No!"
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