A Firefighters glove

A Firefighter's gloves hold many things.
From elderly arms to a kid’s broken swing.
From the hands they shake and the backs they pat
to the tiny claw marks of another treed cat.
At 2 am they are filled with the chrome
from the DUI who was on her way home
and the equipment they use to roll back the dash
from a family of 6 she involved in the crash
The brush rakes in the spring wear the palms out.
When the wind does a "90" to fill them with doubt
the thumb of the glove wipes the sweat of the brow
of the face of a firefighter who mutters "What now?"
They hold inch and three quarters flowing one seventy five.
So the ones going in come back out alive.
When the regulator goes; then there isn't too much,
but the bypass valve they eagerly clutch.
The rescue equipment, the ropes, the C-collars;
the lives they save never measure in dollars
are the obvious things firefighters gloves hold
or, so that is what I’ve always been told.
But there are other things firefighter’s gloves touch.
Those are the things we all need so much.
They hold back rage on that 3 am call.
They hold in the fear when you’re lost in a hall.
They hold back the pity, agony, sorrow.
They hold in the desire to "Do it tomorrow"
A glove is just a glove till it's on 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 they hear.
When the firefighter’s 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 it deep "in there"
Off come the gloves when the call is done
and into the pocket until the next run.
The hands become lonely and cold for a bit
and shake a little thinking of it.
And they sit there so red eyed with their gloves in their coats
the tears come so fast that the furniture floats.
They're not so brave now; their hands they can't hide.
I guess this means that they are human inside.
And though some are paid and others are not
the gloves feel the same when it's cold or it's 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 to St. Peter at that heavenly gate.
Cause as everyone knows, firefighters don't wait.

Thank God.

(Author Unknown)