A young heart stirs in the chest

A blazing ideal, caged and burning

Dark currents surge!

No more hiding beneath the eaves

Beneath the surface of the earth

Beneath the shadows

No more being that chameleon who thrives on every side!

Can you hear it—

the sound of war drums rising from underground?

Can you hear it—

the age of laying down our lives and spilling our blood is coming again!

The resolve is set.

Life can be cast aside.

Cast aside again and again.

Failed again and again.

And started over.

For no other reason

than the searing, sublime truth!

This is what I wrote after finishing How the Steel Was Tempered. The Chinese textbook was right for once: enormous spiritual power!