I'm Just Like You

I'm Just Like You

Original Text
Janet Thomson, "Video: Police Read Poem for Fallen Officer," CBC News (January 18, 2011). URL: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2011/01/18/f-video-poem-officers…. Edited to restore its octosyllabic rhythm.
1I have been where you fear to be,
2I have seen what you fear to see,
3I have done what you fear to do —
4All these things I have done for you.
5I am the one you lean upon,
6The one you cast your scorn upon,
7The one you bring your troubles to —
8All these people I've been for you.
9The one you ask to stand apart,
10The one you feel should have no heart,
11The one you call the "man in blue,"
12But I'm a person just like you.
13And through the years I've come to see,
14That I'm not what you ask of me;
15So, take this badge ... take this gun ...
16Will you take it ... will anyone?
17And when you watch a person die
18And hear a battered baby cry,
19Then do you think that you can be
20All these things you ask of me?

Notes

1] Variously titled: "I'm Just Like You" (www.werismyki.com), "I Am the Officer" (Sandown Police, NH; Toronto 2011), and "Tears of a Cop" (Rockland Police, MA). Back to Line
5] one: "person" (other versions). Back to Line
8] people: things (www.werismyki.com). Back to Line
11] man: "Officer" (Toronto version) Back to Line
12] I'm a person: I'm just a person (Toronto version). Back to Line
13] I've: Toronto version ("I have"; www.werismyki.com). Back to Line
14] I'm: "I am" (other versions).not: www.werismyki.com version ("not always"; Toronto version). Back to Line
15] The dash creates a pause that compensates for the loss of a syllable in this line. Back to Line
20] Note the loss of a syllable here. Back to Line
Publication Notes
A version of this poem was read at the funeral of fallen Toronto police sergeant Ryan Russell.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2011
Rhyme
couplets