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The man lying on the pavement pleaded,
“I can’t breathe, give me some water.”
Parched lips waited for
A few drops of life.
“Mama, help me.”
The knee
Crushing his windpipe and vertebra.
In that Fearful,
Stagnant,
Eight minutes and forty-six seconds
Humanity
Choked, gasped and cracked in eternity.
He
Pleaded and cried again
“Give me some water, man.”
Pain and fear in his eyes sweated on his skin.
There was no remorse,
No response from
The man kneeling on the
Strangulated neck.
I watched by the wayside,
I watched a fellow human,
Being crushed and killed
With indifference and apathy.
Why did I not say “No, you can’t do this”?
Then,
I looked at my skin
And I saw a broken rainbow.
A rainbow
That has been there for hundreds of years,
And I choked
For the knee of the dominant was on my throat too.
My tears and fears
Don’t make sense to the others who
Watch and whisper
Till I too choke and perish.
I wept,
My cheek soaked up the
Tears of the
Lonely,
Isolated,
And the helpless.
I realise my silences of yesteryears
Will choke me today,
And will haunt my silent tomorrows.
How do I ask forgiveness?
To whom shall I plead for pardon?
Who can absolve me of my guilt?
For the indifference I showed.
But,
When the colours of my race
Merge into an inevitable blur,
I shall sing
“I am brown, he is white
And you are black
But our blood is red.”