My Vasyli Stus: Ode to a Ukrainian Dissident

I had friends, who sacrificed their lives in the battlefield for the sake of immortality of their country. Up to now I love them and keenly appreciate their deeds. But what Stus did for his country was much more than just to sacrifice his life. Stus was not simply a soldier. He was a whole ideology, type of prototype. I also had friends, who used to be my ideological comrades-in-arms-wise and reasonable, self-sacrificing and self-denying friends....