If the verb in the independent clause is in the present tense, the tense that the verb in the indirect quotation should be is <span>remain in its original tense.
</span>You don't have to shift tenses because it is present in the independent one.
For example:
He says: "I need to wash my hair."
He says that he needs to wash his hair.
You wouldn't say - he says that he needed to wash his hair.
The third one is the best
<span>In the poem "Transformation Peace" by
Larry Jaffe, he is saying that it takes more courage to show peace than
it does to hold a gun and threaten.</span>
