The Surrender of Troy Davis

I was there for the night of September 21st. The moment that fell Between your last breath and the heartbeat That couldn’t drum up against the gang of poisons sent to stop it. I witnessed the way your pupils dilated To withered sunflowers That people would be scared to touch in fear that You might crumble into little fragments and be washed up with the wind. And it would be their fault That your lungs collapsed From trying to find enough oxygen in life To let you breathe Unsuccessfully. I saw the syringe When it entered I already knew that It had no respect for life It plunged into your arms And your mother’s heart Like a javelin thrown off course But it felt the innocence in your blood That drained out too soon. The grim reaper stood there Clad in State of Georgia executioner wear He covered his head with the black hood Not even he could stand to look you in the face And watch you blink There was something In the way your eyes closed That made his bones stiff The way they would reopen again Made him bone cold The fluorescent light Was heaven and hell in one body. It lashed you with its rays Didn’t warrant you a second’s peace It was hot And fried your skin singed to the touch It was your refuge Away from the darkness that encompassed 22 years It was your refuge Against the night the black gun shot tinted bullets Into the body of a white skinned cop You were blamed They knew it wasn’t you But a black man in Georgia Isn’t safe at night Even if you don’t kill Anyone The night brands you Turns your skin marketable for murder Says your blood was hallow enough. I was the one who stole your last breath That moment when you should’ve Bid farewell to the Protesters And the McPhail mother Who’s solace was corrupted By yet another futile crime The air stolen from your lungs Is not going to bring her little boy back As they say: an eye for an eye A son for a son. I said goodbye to your mother For you Tears fell off her face serpentine It was a mountainous journey From the tip of her eyelash To the sodden Earth Where they, she collapsed like mosaics Without equivalent pieces. I was the moment taken from you When your soul left your body When you went to live with the wind And paint colors on mountain tops I was the moment When you were set free from that night that never happened.