Ode to the Villagers of Zhouguantun

A poem for “The Brave 300”.
Ode to the Villagers of Zhouguantun
300 families in Zhouguantun Village of Botou City, Hebei Province signed a petition requesting the release of Wang Xiaodong, a local Falun Gong practitioner who was arrested at his home on Feb. 25. (The Epoch Times)
Evan Mantyk
6/11/2012
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img class="size-large wp-image-1786142" title="brave+300" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/brave+300.jpg" alt="" width="587" height="440"/></a>

Just a story, just a tale, from some time
When impossibly heroic stories rhymed
Three hundred Spartans fought to their death
Against a million Persians on their path.
Noble, poised, fed on hearty justice,
The Spartans embodied heroic grace,
But were drowned in history’s vast ocean
By all us who drink the modern potion
That makes us thoroughly logically sense
That we cannot make a difference.

Not a story, not a tale, from the East,
From China, where the red communist beast
Persecutes practitioners of Falun Gong,
Not because they did anything wrong,
But because corrupt officials cannot stand,
Something spiritual the people understand.
The beast arrests, detains, tortures and kills
Only satisfied if it breaks your will,
And, like poison, it spreads propaganda
To perpetuate their evil agenda.

This is the story and the tale is now,
The Chinese people say they will not bow
Three hundred villagers in Zhouguantun
Face down devastation and their ruin,
On behalf of their fellow villager,
A local Falun Gong practitioner,
They sent an open message to Beijing
That through all history sent an epic ring,
Like the three hundred mighty Spartans
They screamed: “Release this innocent man!”

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Evan Mantyk is an English teacher in New York and President of the Society of Classical Poets.
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