A Firefighters Gloves

by Pat Browne

 

A Firefighters Gloves hold many things

From elderly arms to a kids broken swing

From the hands they hsake and the back they pat

To the tiny claw marks of another treed cat

 

At 2 am they are filled with the chrome

From the DWI who was on her way home

And the equipment they use to roll back the dash

From a family of six she involved in the crash

 

The brush rakes in spring, wear the palms out

When the wind does a "90" to fill them with doubt

The thumb of the glove wipes the sweat from the brow

Of the face of a firefighter who mutters "What now"

 

They hold inch and a halves flowing one twenty five

So the ones going in, come back out alive

When the regulator goes; then there isn't too much,

by the bypass valve they eagerly clutch

 

The rescue equipment, the ropes, the C-collars,

The lives that they save never measured in dollars

Are the obvious things firefighters goves hold,

Or so that I've always been told.

 

But there are other things Firefighters Gloves touch

Those are the things we all need so much

 

They hold back the rage on that 3 am call

They hold in the fear when your lost in a hall

They hold back the pity, agony, sorrow

They hold back the desire to "Do it tomorrow"

 

A glove's just a glove till it's a firefighters

Who work all day long just to pull an all-nighter

And into the fray they charge without fear

At the sound of a "Help" they think that they hear

 

When firefighters hands go into the glove

It's a firefighter who always fills it with love

Sometimes the sorrow is too much to bear

And it seeps the glove and burns deep "in there"

 

Off comes the gloves when the call is done

And into the pocket until the next run

The ahnds become lonely and cold for a bit

And shake just a little thinking of it

 

And they sit there so red eyed with their gloves in their coats

The tears come so fast the furniture floats

They're not so brave now; their hands they can't hide

I guess it just means that they're human inside

 

And though some are paid and others are not

The gloves feel the same when it's cold or hot

To someone you're helping to just get along

When you fill them with love, you always feel strong

 

And so when I go on my final big ride

I hope to have my gloves by my side

To show St. Peter at that heavenly gate

Cause as everyone knows; firefighters don't wait