Policeman’s Christmas Eve

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Dec. 24, 2013  PLYMOUTH VOICE.

My Christmas Eve
by Bob Welsh

The hours late, should go to bed
Near midnight I believe
But memories keep me wide awake
This snowy Christmas Eve

Yes, memories of my kids moved on
Each has their separate life
And how the holidays have changed
Since angels took my wife

The toys, the food, the Christmas cheer
My wife would bear the load
Because I work most holidays
State Trooper on the road

Just sitting in my easy chair
So many years retired
I reminisce of times gone by
And all that has transpired

Of all the many happenings
That seem to come to light
A multitude of them occurred
Right on this very night

A drunken woman in a wreck
Died on Christmas eve
Leaves memories of a tragic case
Most people won’t believe

I had to drive to where she lived
To tell her next of kin
And found the rundown mobile home
She had been living in

The person answering the door
I still recall today
A little girl about four years old
She said “I’m Sue McKay”

I asked her if her dad was home
And felt the longest pause
She said “My daddy ran away”
“You must be Santa Claus”

“My mommy said you’d come tonight”
“If I just stayed in bed”
“And bring a pretty doll for me”
“That’s what my mommy said”

I broke the law that Christmas Eve
Did not call child’s care
They’d merely put her in a room
And that I could not bear

I picked her up and took her home
My wife tucked her in bed
And wrapped a pretty doll for her
Just like her mommy said

Adopted by a loving home
And soon they moved away
I won’t forget that Christmas Eve
And little Sue McKay

Another bitter Christmas Eve
A blizzard to behold
Had left a family in a ditch
Just trapped there in the cold

By grace of God I spotted them
All cold and guant with fright
I drove them to a motel room
To safely spend the night

One Christmas Eve a homeless man
Shivering and wet
Was trying hard to get a ride
I’m sure he’d never get

I picked him up and drove him
To a diner on the hill
To warm his bones I left him with
a five dollar bill

Strange how when your all alone
What memories you recall
Your think of everything you’ve done
And was it worth it all

I think about my God, my job
My children and my wife
Would I do it all the same
Could I re-live my life

Then comes a knock upon my door
This late who could it be
A neighbor or has Santa Claus
Come to visit me

The figure standing in the cold
Gives me a sudden fright
A trooper with that solemn look
Dear God, who has died tonight

I’m flashing back to bygone years
How I’d often stood
On someones porch to bring them news
And it was never good

Is this how life gets back at me
For misery I’ve induced
Where pain I’ve caused some other folks
Has now come home to roost

But looking in the troopers eyes
My mind is in a whirl
I see a pleasant countenance
The trooper is a girl

She reached and smiled to shake my hand
And silence wasn’t broke
Until a tear rolled down her cheek
And then she softly spoke

“I’m sure you don’t remember me”
“But thought I’d stop and say”
“God bless you on this Christmas Eve”
“I’m Trooper Sue McKay”

|News Plymouth Michigan