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I am seeing, hearing, listening
—to the opining;
Viewing the protests, marches, car-and-foot caravans
with and without the masked faces
less than six feet apart
And I am numb with shock to see
over and over again
a man knee-lynched
on real-time, replayable, digital
social media
It shook my soul to see
human beings stand by
and have nothing to say;
Those dudes, Men in Blue, stood and kneeled
as if there was nothing going on
They, too, were numb with the power of God
Doing what they’d probably done
many times before;
No big deal
just another forced arrest
When I first heard about it, I thought
it had to do with drugs, professional sports
gambling, the mob, or a personal difference
with someone outside of
human compassion
Who would kill someone that way? Much less, a cop?
There had to be more to the story, deeper than that;
Did they know each other? Were they friends or enemies?
How did it get to the point of abuse by one of them?
Surely, I had hoped, it was not about race
Then, again:
What made the cop, so coldly,
nonchalantly comfortable to be
Judge, enforcer, jury and executioner
without due?
Was George Floyd not privy to constitutional rights
no matter what happened?
