87. Rescue

Gently, as if he were an injured child,
Patrick scoops up this isolated man
and carries him to safety, while his friends
-      a rugby pack who’ve planned a line-out move -
provide protection, give him breathing space.
No time to think. Do what you’ve got to do.
The man they save is racist, white but this
is no self-sacrifice. It’s not for him.
We did it for our kids. We leave him there
he dies, and we know what the judge will say.
Some black boys kill a white man, no-one cares
about what happened first. They think ahead
for others; they take action, as a team.
Police do that, and George Floyd’s still alive.