Police - And The Badge Lays Heavy On My Chest Poem by Paul Warren

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