The following poem was written by a youth in Los Angeles who performed it recently at an open mic sponsored by the Revolution Club.
Three heroes stood up
And two were slain
Three heroes stood up
And my words are in vain
For no ode or poem
Could ever explain
The magnitude of the love
That conquered fear and pain
On a busy night in Portland
On a commuter train
Two Muslim girls sat
Chatting about their day
The car was full of people
Trying to get on their way
When a man spied suspiciously
In aggravation and dismay
His agitation building
His anger on display
He approached these two girls
Boldly and began his tirade
The girls were distraught
Unsure of what to do
A day before Ramadan
A test they must pass through
The vitriol was rampant
The venom was pure vile
And upon that man’s face
Appeared an evil smile
That’s when three brave men
Began walking down the aisle
To confront this villainous foe
And consign him to exile
This was a hero’s mission
Dangerous and hostile
But three brave souls stood up
That night to put evil on trial
And when the madman was confronted
His cowardice compounded
The odds stacked against him
And he was now surrounded
The men were bold and brilliant
Witnesses recounted
In a time of need for a great deed
Love was what kept them grounded
But evil is a coward
That steel empowers
So he took out a blade
To cut down their hours
Three brave souls stood up
And in their place we lay flowers
Two brave souls dearly departed
At the hands of one great coward
But fret not for one still lives
And the three were of one mind
To reignite the torch of hope
For all of humankind
To remind us of our courage
To have hope for one another
To resist hate with radical love
For all our sisters and brothers
Three heroes stood up
As a guidance from above
So we could all stand up
And fill this world with love!
In honor of survivor Micah Fletcher, 21
In honor of the fallen Ricky Best, 53 and Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23