L. A. Vespers

5

Captain Dobey reflects on his young rookie cops.

 

Originally published in the Starsky and Hutch gen anthology zine, LA Vespers 1, published by The Parasite Press, in 1979.

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They come to me
with unshadowed eyes
innocent as children pinning on
the bright tin badge

see me
I am master and I
make the world turn
in God’s fashion
performing death-defying feats daily
above the smog and dirt
with no net

til mother calls come in

It’s
the way of the world
and all flesh etc.
you can’t hold on
forever

Still

I am not resigned
to the twilight hour

when they go from me
with dead men’s eyes in young faces
blank as brass pennies
for the tollman

nor do I give them easily
to the lost grapplings in the dark

the furtive word
the pocket changing hands
in a sleazy men’s room
finally
the fratricidal bullet

but most of all
when they go from me

between the stiff saluting ranks
borne on the shoulders
of strong young men

I am not resigned

And I grudge them Lord
I grudge them

every one