• Submit Poetry
  • Support SCP
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Join
Monday, October 13, 2025
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
No Result
View All Result
Home Poetry High School Poets

‘Reflections on a Falun Gong Candlelight Vigil’ by Shannon Cong

March 8, 2016
in High School Poets, Human Rights in China, Poetry
A A
3

Shall I compare the CCP
To a tragic Shakespeare play?
For all the lies of history
Unfold in China today.

Good and evil set the stage,
The last and final scene.
But those who ‘gainst heaven rage
Know not of the unseen.

Greater forces are at play,
Watching this tragedy,
And those who persecute the good
Will pay eventually.

Black flames of persecution
That jealousy had fanned
Soon grew and smothered the whole nation,
Thus, Falun Gong was banned.

Those who spoke against the lies
Were killed for their belief.
But who knew mountains would arise
From pebbles of defeat?

Courage is not lack of fear
But how we master it.
For values that they hold dear,
real heroes do not quit.

A single candle burns tonight
A sacred memory.
But soon thousands light up the night
In breathtaking glory.

A flame for every daring voice
That stood against the fiends
A flame to let the world rejoice
When at last this madness ends.

And when the final curtain falls,
The performance is done,
The world will see that after all,
The righteous side has won.

 

Shannon Cong is a student at Fei Tian Academy of the Arts, in Upstate New York.

Featured Image: “Lotus Candle” by Xiaoping Chen. Numerous candlelight vigils have been held around the world to remember Falun Gong practitioners who have died from torture.

ShareTweetPin
The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.
Read Our Comments Policy Here
Next Post
‘Horses’ and Other Poetry by Ruth Hill

'Horses' and Other Poetry by Ruth Hill

‘The Living Thinking on the Dead’ by Alberdi Ucwese

10 Riddles by Mike Munsell

‘Transient’ by Suchitra G. Das

'Transient' by Suchitra G. Das

Comments 3

  1. Benjamen Grinberg says:
    10 years ago

    you sincere remembrance of the falun gong stirs my heart temerously
    makes me feel as one
    with your cause your heartfelt praise of this resistance
    of your good and truthful words of evil, cowardice

    but in this life things are so gray in my own mind i feel
    the evil has found a loophole to hurt those that are weak
    to take out anger, wickedness against those who fail to
    stand their own ground in face of fear
    to vanquish this astrew.
    is the process of my own life
    that needs refinement
    in order to make harmonized the outer world’s effects.

    Reply
  2. James Poulter says:
    10 years ago

    Great poem!

    Reply
  3. Leonard Dabydeen says:
    8 years ago

    Memory that stirs deep, weighing emotions with imagery in your poem, Shannon Cong.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Margaret Coats on ‘After Putting a Poetry Anthology in a Blender’: A Poem by Tony PeyserOctober 13, 2025

    I tried to volunteer in the effort to save art tiles from houses that had lost everything except the fireplace.…

  2. Tony Peyser on ‘After Putting a Poetry Anthology in a Blender’: A Poem by Tony PeyserOctober 13, 2025

    Cynthia, what can I say? I had good material to work with. Actually … the best.

  3. Cynthia L Erlandson on ‘After Putting a Poetry Anthology in a Blender’: A Poem by Tony PeyserOctober 13, 2025

    I'm laughing out loud at this cleverness! Like Margaret, I love the ironic contrast between Donne and Whitman. Also, the…

  4. Theresa Werba on ‘The Mead of Poetry’: A Poem by Theresa WerbaOctober 13, 2025

    Thanks for the kind comment Susan, and for giving me a reason to look up "Scrumpy"-- sounds like the kind…

  5. Margaret Coats on ‘Profoundly Original’: A Poem on Saint Carlo Acutis by Margaret CoatsOctober 13, 2025

    You're right, Robert, we need them both, and young men have a special need. Frassati is a good example of…

Receive Poems in Your Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,617 other subscribers
Facebook Twitter Youtube

Archive

Categories

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • Submit Poetry
  • Become a Member
  • Members List
  • Support the Society
  • Advertisement Placement
  • Comments Policy
  • Terms of Use

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books

© 2025 SCP. WebDesign by CODEC Prime.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.