POEM – The Earth of George Floyd

The Earth of George Floyd
By Emeka Chiakwelu

There was a simmering travelling moon
Emitting light eclipsed by rapacious scene
Enveloping darkness fell in the land
That’s was the journey in the alien land
But the journey did not start today
Nor was it yesterday, it has been 400 years
To be precise, the bondage in New World started in 1619
Where meandering water became violent waves
Disfigured fingers, toes were ingrained in the unforgiving soil
Both hands and legs were shackled with chains
Rain resisted, wind resisted
Chains on black body became anathema of bondage

There was a paradise in Africa
Lustrous green vegetation with beautiful scenery
There they came and took him into captivity
Sailed black body to a devouring environment
While soul was in the motherland, Black body was in the cotton field
There in new place, he was made a slave
This was no simple compulsive labor
This was the chattel slavery at crust of the land
In sweltering heat he picked cotton

He was not born to be slave
He was a noble man in the land of his fathers
A royal blood flow in his veins
But today he became a slave
His history was deleted
His original name was abolished
There they said was freedom
Liberty was said to be freedom
Freedom where were you?
Liberty where were you?

Cried for freedom!
Cried for liberty!
As 400 years of hatred laid on his neck
Crying and weeping for liberty!
He cried with a dying, suffocating voice….
I can’t breathe
I can’t breathe
I can’t breathe
That was his life in the New World