And the Badge Lays Heavy On My Chest

The police badge I wore shone so bright On the day I graduated it felt so right For the uniform was what I wanted for me But there were times when there was a price for it you see And the badge lay heavy on my chest There was an Easter when a family counted the cost After a young man drove his car into a pole and was lost I remember it all as it was not a pretty sight With his mother’s anguished cry that split the night And the badge lay heavy on my chest There was the little girl with her hair in pigtails Who ran into next door crying about what her story entails For her step father had his way in the house in the tree But the mother sided with the father and didn’t agree And the badge lay heavy on my chest The hardest of all was when losing mates Passing from their lives on duty in terrible fates One died protecting a woman on bus interchange ground And one as a speedie who died by a drunk running him down And the badge lay heavy on my chest So now all those times have long passed on And I’ve put down the badge as my time has now gone But these are the things I remember still When these things come to mind as in my mind down I drill And the badge still lies heavy on my chest. © Paul Warren Poetry