Edgar Snow: A Poem

A poem written by Rewi Alley in memory of Edgar Snow after his death in 1972.

Looking out at me

from the morning's paper

the quiet steady face

the understanding eyes

of the American dreamer

who saw how dreams

could be made come true

and who caught some

of the fire of the Chinese

Revolution and its leadership

so that along with them,

as they so incredibly fought,

did he fight with his pen

for all he came to believe in.

Yes, he suffered all right,

not simple to face those wild

Northwest highlands in search

of the Red Army that

the then-world called bandits

only to be exterminated;

not simple to get their

story and paint it so deftly

so that it rocked around

the world in every major

language.

He did not die rich

this good American; never

with more than just

enough to get by; yet ever

with ordinary people,

millions of them,

hanging on his words

gaining through him

new clarity.

Gone from us in body

his spirit living through

his writing is this man

whose heart was with

fighters and to whom

youth of the future will look

in gratitude for the classic

"Red Star Over China"

that ever remained his star,

his hope for a saner

cleaner world to be.

Rewi Alley (1897-1987) was a New Zealand-born writer, educator, and political activist who dedicated 60 years of his life to aiding and modernizing China, founding schools and industrial cooperatives while fostering international friendship.