Local Poetry | Martyrs for Justice by George Karnikis

||| FROM GEORGE KARNIKIS |||

Martyrs for Justice

By George Karnikis
Aug 2026

According to Socrates
Justice is prerogative to all humans  
Some search for it quietly.
Some give their lives so others can see it.

Socrates stood before power
with only his questions and his courage.
He would not trade truth for safety.
He met death without turning away.

Christ walked with the wounded,
the forgotten, and the poor.
He taught that mercy could rise
where people expected only judgment.

King spoke of a dream
when hatred still filled the streets.
He asked people to look beyond skin
and measure one another by character.

Gandhi rose with patience
in South Africa and in India.
He carried no weapon,
yet he moved people toward freedom.

Even when his life was taken,
the truth he carried did not disappear.
It remained in the people
who kept walking after him.

Injustice is still with us.
It is not always loud,
and it does not always announce itself.

But each of us can choose
not to look away.
Each of us can stand
where justice needs a voice.