Song of the Heart Mountain Resistance

Though the darkness licked the ceilings,
though the hatred forced unfeeling,
single lights came on revealing
a second demarcation line.

Faced with coldness and the spite
of those who sought to use their plight
(the line of soldiers suited green
did catch the red that marked their bones).

And so within the courtroom faced
against the heat and lies displaced,
seventy youth all stood and fought;
the scales of justice swayed and broke.

Sentenced to the prison gates
all branded traitors by the state,
and even those within their camps
had turned their backs upon these men.

Now their stories can be told,
about their struggles fought so bold
and all can see the honored signs
of those who stood before their time.

 

© Ryan Masaaki Yokota

Back to main poetry page