Disturbing Thoughts

as i worked
in the garden today

i couldn’t relax
as i usually do

mind troubled
by terrible thoughts

as i watered
the tomatoes

i recalled
over a year ago

video
of a man

sworn to protect and serve
kneeling

as i pulled
a few weeds

on the neck
of a man gasping

“i can’t breathe. Mama!”
“i can’t breathe”

as i transplanted
a tree

someone held a cell phone
recording video

for nine minutes
the death of a man

as i pruned
the rose bush

i wondered how
someone could hate

enough to hear a man beg
for life while they took it away

as i swept
the walk

a tear
came to my eye

for the man who died

and the one
who has to live with it

© 2021 Raibeart Bruis