Constable (poem)

I’m using this blog to self-publish a few poems from home, most of them elegies and other public pieces that have emerged in the recent months. “Constable” is an elegy respectfully dedicated to RCMP Const. Heidi Stevenson, who was murdered in Nova Scotia a week and a half ago. It’s intended to offer sincere condolences. I grew up in Truro, Nova Scotia, and still have friends there.

Constable

Heidi Stevenson, 1971-2020

Maintiens le droit.

You’re told, hold to what’s right, no matter what,

which if taken to heart you take to mean,

first off, you’re the one called to look out for  

the wounded, the bewildered, and the shunned.

Service inscribes its craft across the law.

There’s anybody could be your neighbour:

common decency forms the better part

of what ought to pass for justice. You swore

to temper fear, favour, and affection,

but maybe not at the cost of close-grained

kindness. From the folks you stand on guard for

you learn what real care costs. Come the last shift

on your current patch, for instance, a good

ways north of Cole Harbour up the 102,

you might pull your cruiser to the shoulder

to think through how your oath might get you killed,

how kids and husband, left to reconcile

duty to loss, might persevere, and how

no place else comes remotely close to home.