Ted Littleford
Rising early, the day still quiet
After a night so stormy and fraught
You can almost feel the earth breathing
Yet what precisely is the meaning
Of that — - one of us breathes and the other cannot?
In the spring I was fearful of your breath and you of mine
Now in the summer, the breathe-easier summer time
Here’s a new thing each of us can no longer avoid
Giving a little of our breath back to George Floyd
You think if we all breathed at once beyond shouting and strife
You think a new kind of breathing could bring him back to life?
He was an ordinary man struggling to be good
Through his last eight minutes we understand where we stood
Inhale once for George Floyd, rescue him from the dead
That’s all I’m saying, that’s all I’ve said.
If only we could bring them ALL back to life.