Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PATROL WAGON, by PERCY STICKNEY GRANT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PATROL WAGON, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Out of the end of the wagon
Last Line: In all this picture of woe.
Subject(s): Police


Out of the end of the wagon
Stepped the police and their prisoners.
Into the station they filed.

Laborer in jeans, strong, independent,
What have you done,
Hiding your pride by your swing?
No fellow you for the filthy tramp,
Shambling behind, seeming so much at home.
No fellow you for the shifty youth
Winking and grinning from sidewalk to door.

What you did I must know.
I arrested you -- I, a citizen.
No, not with my hands, but my agents,
Policemen in blue, now guarding you.
Brutal, impertinent, knowing their power,
Burly, armed with revolvers and billies,
Backed by their fellows and what is called law.

Well -- the door shuts -- the crowd disappears.
The wagon goes back for new loads.
Placid, composed, the driver his horses turns
And lo! in their mild eyes and gentle forms I see
The only loving appeal
In all this picture of woe.





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