What were you thinking?
Opening up your heart
To the Monster in the Tower
Opening up your heart
To a people without power
Could you fill the Demon
With fear?
Could you fight the mad Goblins
With reason?
This is an Empire of the Dead
Life is not allowed here
In this vast land
Freedom will not stand
In this vast land
Great men shall be born
Only to witness
How the Soul dies
The Dead are Watching
The Dead are Counting
The Dead rule
Above and Beneath the Earth
What mad love moved you Navalny?
What spirit of removal?
You were doomed Navalny
And everyone seemed to know it
But you
What sublime ignorance
What divine defiance
Such a man as you
Could lift a world
But not this one
In this one
You were doomed
To rot in prison
And to know torture
And to be used
As another stark warning:
In this land
There are no dreams
Only nightmares
In this land
You move
Very carefully
In this land
All backs are bent
To the Czar
In this land
Your only escape
Is death, exile, or
A murdering heart
In this land, Navalny,
Where you are no more
Dan Corjescu teaches at the University of Tübingen’s “Studium Professionale” Program
