UNDER THE BADGE

Dum dum dum da-da-dum dum Dum dum dum da-da-dum dum Pounding the same streets since '99 Reading the same shadows, reading the same signs A face in the doorway he's seen before A pattern that knocks on a familiar door Collar up, eyes down, he files the report Chooses every word like a man before court But the ink on the page won't say what he knows It's a city of silence and everyone knows This is the weight that he carries alone This is the gap between what's seen and what's shown Pressing down on him — pressing down on him Under the badge, under the vow The thing that he's sworn to is tearing him now Under the badge, under the law Can a man speak the truth of the things that he saw? It's the pressure — it's the pressure Under the badge Twenty-three years and he knows every block Every mother who weeps at the turn of a lock He's stood at the funerals, held the cold hands He's watched whole streets swallowed by shifting sands Now there's a meeting, there's a form to be signed A careful reminder of a carefully drawn line "Your observations are noted, but please be aware —" He stares at the ceiling. He breathes in the air. This is the crack running under the floor This is the question they won't open the door for Pressing down on him — pressing down on him Under the badge, under the oath The fracture that's splitting the two things he loves most Under the badge, under the weight Of a silence that masquerades perfectly as fate It's the pressure — it's the pressure Under the badge Why can't a man say the shape of a thing? Why does the truth have a price tag to bring? Is it the city — or is it the man — Who has run out of room for the truth where he stands? Oooooh — This is the fire he can't let go dark This is the wound in the city's own heart Insanity — laughs under pressure we're cracking Can't we give love one more chance? (But the forms keep stacking — ) Give love, give love, give love — (The silence keeps wrapping — ) Why — can't — we — He drives home slow through the amber-lit roads Past the corner where last Tuesday's story was told His daughter is sleeping, her nightlight still on He sits in the dark thinking — what have we done? He knows what he'll say when they sit him back down He knows what it costs him, he knows what he's found: That a man who stays quiet to keep his career Has already lost the thing that brought him here Under the badge, under the stone The truth is a thing you can't carry alone Under the badge, under the years Of a job that was built on more than a career It's the pressure — God, the pressure — Under the badge This is our last dance… This is ourselves… Under the badge.