Calling all poets! Corrections1’s poetry column highlights some of the inspirational, moving and funny poems authored by our readers.
This poem is by Lt. William Weaver of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana who wrote the poem to honor all the women and men who serve in the “silent part of law enforcement – those who work inside the walls.”
Email your original writing submission for consideration to editor@corrections1.com.
inside the walls
Each day I rise to the sun
Go into work without a gun
To walk among those who do not care
If I walk away, or they kill me on a dare.
I work inside a building that the public does not see
I work with those that have the keys
To those cells and areas where we keep
Those who prey on the mild and meek
Those who are held behind the walls
Try every day to keep us from standing tall
They plot and plan to bring us down
They work their plan to make us look like a clown
We carry no guns, only spray and our hands
We walk among those who have a knife made from a can
We walk with thoughts of what is in the next housing unit
We walk knowing that we are in the viper pit.
We work to stand tall in professional honor on firm ground
We work to have the respect of the public we surround
We work unseen to keep all officers and inmates in good health
We work for minimum wage and not the wealth.
We are the part of law enforcement that the public does not view
We are the proud, the standing tall
We are the ones, the few,
Who work inside the walls.