Lionhearted
by A. Scott Hutchinson
For Elizabeth Lion's 75th Birthday and
2001 Woman of the Year
To be silent is a choice;
to be silenced is a crime.
Never one to sit idle, she takes a stand
above the comfortable, noticeable
above the awkward faces of the crowd;
the timid hide from sight
in the twilight of the dying.
Never one to keep quiet, she speaks
in defense of innocence, arguing
with the common voices of acquiescence
when the bigots bully their muscles
over the vulnerability of the oppressed.
Never one to be inactive, she rises
in resistance to injustice, championing
humanity in every blessed form
when the thugs have bet their stake
good women will be intimidated.
Never one to conceal wisdom, she teaches
students, casual and familiar, battling ignorance,
cultivating the understanding of love,
building the only barricades
to break the battering by the harbingers of despair.