Navalny

Who among us is willing to walk into the lion's den, to place one's head into the beast's mouth, unarmed but for a knowing smile and unswerving dedication to cause

Who among us could be free to fly to the heavens but choose instead to walk directly into Hell

Who among us would give up the very air one breathes in near certain doomed pursuit of an idea, an ideal

He was cut from a different cloth

He embarrassed his captor with his courage, his unencumbered willingness to accept death as the price to be paid to pursue freedom for others

With each loss he absorbed, he gained a greater victory

In every tribulation, each trial literal and figurative, there was triumph

He perished on a battlefield of his choosing

And in death he was freed from bondage, from the shackles his enemies placed on him

In that moment he indeed flew into the heavens

In that moment he defeated a foe who was at first glance seemingly all powerful but in the final tally was without strength to deter him, to deny him his untrammeled, unrelenting defiance

In that moment we will forever remember his greatness and never forget his name

He was Navalny