The Monday Poem

Not such a good last few days; somewhat chaotic with the travel and the weather and the work, then when I got back from Stirling the rock of this family promptly succumbed to 'flu, so instead of being allowed to wander around exhausted from work myself and then go to the Book Fair I had been invited to participate in - well, I have been Florence Nightingaling instead. Managed to get the boys to Church though, and their readings went really well (Isaiah, chapter 9, verses 1 and 2, then 6 and 7 - take a look, not easy). We laugh at Nebulun and Naphtali!

All of which is by way of explaining I ain't had no writing time, so today's poem is unformed and just from heart to page. A police officer died on duty last Friday. Police Constable Bill Barker, of the Cumbria Constabulary, was directing motorists to safety off Northside Bridge, Workington, which was in a dangerous condition due to the floods, when it collapsed. He was swept away and drowned.

There are many debates to be had on the role of the police in society, and whilst I am more than happy to engage in them, I am not trying to initiate one here. When I joined the police I swore an oath of office before my Chief Constable. It was beautifully King James Version-esque, I undoubtedly swore it by Almighty God, and it centred on the primary duties of a police constable, which were the protection of life and property, the preservation of the Queen's Peace, the prevention of crime and the detection of offenders. In that order.


I swear

If you have died, unexpectedly,
I will be there.
If you think you’ve found a bomb,
I will walk up to it and look,
think, decide what to do
in order to protect you.
When you create merry hell
on a Saturday night
any city centre fight,
I will stop you.
Choose to rob a bank
in a Sherman tank?
I’ll still pursue you.
Every train crash,
motorway smash,
I will be there
to try and save you.
There is no horror
there is no terror
there is no danger
there is no one
from which you’d run
that I will not run toward, for you.
You will not like me,
may not want me,
but when things happen
I will be there.