Police - Funeral For A Mate Poem by Paul Warren

We stand together in uniforms pressed clean
To honour a mate who is no longer seen
The Police band drums are draped in black
We march along behind the hearse on the cemetery track
The music plays and your thoughts wander along
Of a mate whose death we now do ponder long

To chapel we all file in with the family's arrival in terrible weight
Pall bearers as tradition states his rank and more importantly a mate
It's hard to watch a family's grief and bear it in his untimely call
His coffin the state flag sits with his police cap and medals all
The minister speaks of his life passed now
And why death has called him and we question how

So it ends and the family says its goodbye
And with cap on we walk up and salute a good guy
We remember him and his service as one of the fallen
He is amongst the 61 Sacred in their gracious calling
I think of him now and the laughter he brough
For a man taken sooner than it should be ought

Hail him as a hero for South Australians to remember so clear
But know that as a husband, father and mate we keep him near.

© Paul Warren Poetry