FOR MEMBERS ONLY

Graduation,

Emblazoned silver yield

Adorns the breast

Of an untested youth.

 Laying to rest

An impaled shield,

Fate was the quest

Of the careless sleuth.

A promise of honor

A posture of courage

Another number

 He bears it proud.

 Looking for trouble,

He fears the dead of night

And the anguished cry

Above the congestive shroud.

As he contemptuously abuses

His office of peace

Clans clash with neglect

And sweat the lamp of urban heat.

Our finest laments

Abridged violation

And a system conducted

By tribes who stir on the beat.

Twenty years

Reaching gold-filled merit

He skipped the tightrope

And kept his visor down.

Retirement tears

On golden watch

He prays to wrest

His soul from the underground.