you are a handsome man
sporting a navy blue uniform
whose goal is to deliver justice
you are a police officer -
young and ignorant
and I am the seventeen year old daughter
of a mother
who had burst into angry tears
as she rant on about how her daughters
had caused her pain
when three police officers arrived
at her doorstep after a fight in which
she has swing a 12 centimetre knife
at our faces

"don't follow the footsteps of your sister"
at thirteen, I lose my best friends
fourteen when I first drew blood
fifteen when I finally woke up from the pain
from the age when I needed someone
to tell me they cared,
where were you?
you were probably in university,
head submerged in a sea of books
and busking in your youth.
so how can you say this with a straight face
when you were unaware of the path i had thread?

and you had the tenacity to tell me
i have not grown up
yes, i am only seventeen
young, and probably ignorant
but you are the same -
but i'm not a police officer
and it is not my duty to uphold justice
because if this is your justice,
then you are doing it all wrong.