Summation

I took my badge off my chest
And put it in a drawer
Knowing I had no need for it
And would not wear it anymore.

I took my uniform to the cleaner

Told them to fold it in a box.

I took the clip out of my Colt
And hid it beneath my socks.

All the equipment I had used

For more than twenty years

I carefully put everything away.
They had no further purpose here.

The only thing remaining

Is the hat that I had worn.
It sits high up on a shelf
Next to cans of beans and corn.

A man is more than what he was.

He is more than what he’s done.
A man is not the sum of where he’s been
Of battles, lost or won.

My life remains unfinished.

It’s a night without a moon.
It’s a rhyme without a meter.
It’s a song without a tune.