Musings in a Time of Crisis XXVIII

Acrostic

G eorge, your name incites fresh reckoning

E verywhere, on every thick tongue, on boulevards where brave

O pen mouths insist on shouting it

R oaring it in barricaded alleys, in the world's luminous languages set
       afire

G eorge! George, on so many lips your name blooms a revolution

E ach vowel and consonant flourishing with intention


F ragile, it broke, your breathing, lessening in that shattering time

L abored as 8 minutes 46 seconds edged you nearer home, before

O nly silence could follow that knee lifted from your neck, and

Y ou said, "Momma, Momma" no more and we, like you, lay

D own in the street, collectively exhaling your name


George Floyd, October 14, 1973 - May 25, 2020