I am George Floyd of God's Own Country

Call me Floyd, not the poor Black man
A White cop choked to death
In a barbaric neck-hold that lasted
Eight minutes, forty-six seconds.

Call me Floyd, stillborn of a Black mammal
A brown man blasted to death
With a snare savagery that lasted
An agonising and traumatic two weeks.

Call me Floyd, not the honest Black man
Whose jugular vein or carotid artery
Or both were crushed with a knee
Not bent in prayers, but in homicidal glee.

Call me Floyd, stillborn of a Black mammal
Whose jumbo jaws and oral cavity bled
From necrotic wounds inflicted by a fruit
Not laced with love but vicious treachery.

Call me Floyd, not the hapless Black man
Whose lungs gasped as a humongous force
Of evil weighed down his body and soul
And poisoned his veins with racial hatred.

Call me Floyd, stillborn of a Black mammal
Whose lungs withered as man's Seven Fruits
Of Sins sowed sepsis across its vital organs
And pushed it into the dark Pit of Sorrow.

Call me Floyd, not the gentle Black man
Whose cries of I can't breathe rang out
Louder than the epochal I have a dream
And pricked conscience far and wide.

Call me Floyd, stillborn of a Black mammal
Whose silence in sorrow rang out
Louder than the trumpet of a jumbo
And pained Ratan Tata to Kevin Pietersen.

Call me Floyd, not the giant Black man
Whose White rich America flies
To the moon and back and would fight
Any other battle than the filth in its heart.

Call me Floyd, stillborn of a Black mammal
Whose masters fly low-cost probes
To the moon and Mars and would battle
Any other cause than forests and wildlife.

Call me Floyd, not the big Black man
Whose muffled begging for life shames
The great legacies of Lincoln and Obama
And makes us wonder if Black Lives Matter.

Call me Floyd, stillborn of a Black mammal
Whose traumatic wait for death in tainted
Waters of human apathy and ignominy
Questions the pride of God's Own Country.

Call me Floyd, not the loving Black man
Whose grizzly looks and teddy-bear heart
Made him unique and adorable to friends
And a blight for champions of apartheid.

Call me Floyd, stillborn of a Black mammal
Whose majestic looks and mighty strength
Made its family a menagerie of pomp
And its tamed peers a slave of humans.

Funeral liturgy sprinkles Holy Water on the
Black man to glorify the Child of God;
Muddy water gushing into the womb of the
Black mammal springs a baby shower.

He died for the Great American Dream
I died for the elephantine dream of trust.
suresh@khaleejtimes.com