Wednesday 23 November 2011

10 Seconds

This (now amended) poem was first published on Poetry 24.  (Thanks Clare and Martin!)  Please visit Poetry 24 and contribute if you can.

The poem deals with the murder of Stephen Lawrence.

10 Seconds
Strength in numbers,
base mentality,
oh brave men they,
sick to the core,
they surround the enemy,
black face marks
his victim status;
Easy prey,
they pounce
(strength in numbers),
a punch, a kick, a knife,
that’s all it takes to snuff
a life.

He escapes,
runs for his life,
unaware that death
now lives within him,
He falls, bleeds,
heart stops,
life ceases.

Strength in numbers,
base mentality,
they watch him
flee and fall. 
Disinterested,
they leave,
as casually as they killed.


Anna :o]

For those of you who do not live in the UK, please read the history here at Wikipedia.
For today's reporting please see this article in The Telegraph.
Let us hope that at this trial, Stephens family finally see justice done.


With kind thanks to the good folk at dVerse ~ Poets Pub for providing the opportunity to publish again.


Mmmm, mega PC problems, hence post a bit of a mish-mash.  Apologies!






9 comments:

Anonymous said...

a sad elegiac piece. even worse, it's factuality.
it's still a jungle, isn't it? even with all ''this civilization.''

good poem.

Brian Miller said...

ugh...what a harrowing tale...truth can be ugly at times, as can we....

Frances Garrood said...

Thank you for that, Anna. A very thoughtful piece.

Claudia said...

they leave,
as casually as they killed....ugh...this makes my heart ache...what a sad world we're living in..

ADDY said...

I do so hope they get justice for Stephen Lawrence and put those murderers away. Sadly this happened not far from where I live.

Misterio Vida said...

thats is so sad somebody being killed because he was black...being born black or white or red or any other colour is not of our own choosing, nor is the place we born in is, but humans are so intolerable... imagine a white man killed in africa and the world would go hysteric and the africans would be termed as savages and wild animals...but we hardly get any media coverage for cases like this one... bravo to the inquiry committee who though belatedly diagnosed the real issues and lets hope justice is served...

Maude Lynn said...

Powerful write. Not a wasted word.

Maggie said...

Very powerful. Just so sad.

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Thank you for your kind comments folks and yet again apologies for the delay in replying. Sporadic internet connections continue - but here at the minute!

Israr ~ It is a misconception that racism is purely an evil of the white man (or woman) for racism exists the world over.

There are no-go areas in the UK where a white man would fear to tread and the same applies to a black man. In the city where I work - I do not think any of these areas exist - but there is one area where I have been racially abused because I am white.

Regretably, the same applies in Africa. White men are certainly murdered purely because they are white.

It is a tribal thing born out of fear and suspicion and hopefully one day, we shall all rise above it. Hopefully.

Anna :o]