"Breathe" evokes the issue of racism in the USA and particularly the choking death of George Floyd

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That small cop

Caught the ‘gentle giant’,

The coy boy

In dark garments,

Thought the gate to triumph

Passes by the show,

Selfying the missionary moment

Turned the cow boy into a vampire

A nasty nymph

That little cop

Knew not what this dark spot

Was capable to do

The harbinger of the pop

Seized the best shot

Not the first

Won’t be the last

Discriminated against, in States,

Where unity dissipates

“I can’t breathe!”

Three words have crossed borders,

Penetrated hearts before minds

Shook hands

Not sterile,

Traversed contaminated suburbs

Still wearing the surgical mask,

The words have become a rallying point

Because they were true

Now you can breathe

As the Heavenly law

Has darkened your killer’s face

Whose psychosis is infantile,

Chastened your blackened race

Not the first

Can’t be the last

Change won’t take place

Racism, for some,

Runs like poison in a snake’s tongue

Devastates cities during hurricanes

Plays the fool like a well-known clown,

Winning the election while doing much wrong,

Spreads like the Spanish flu,

Wiping out millions

Not wearing the tissue

Your color, not the counterfeit $20 bill

Is the issue

Not the first

Can’t be the last

Your sane journey to the endless breath

Knelt on

The shocking scene

Of your death.

So, breathe there, our ‘gentle giant’

It is for free

There

Is

Your wealth.

Neither the first

Nor the last

Case

The ‘Orange Julius,

Taken to the underground bunker,

Entrapped like a visible enemy

While the Black devoured

The Wild Rice

Even in a white House

‘Trumplethinskin’ was itching

To exercise his dim thumb,

Smelling the approaching downfall

Of a damned dace.

By Anissa Sboui Ben Mohamed

From: Tunisia