The Devil Wears a Badge

[Verse 1] Sheriff Cole wore polished boots, A pressed black coat and handsome suits. He shook each hand and kissed each child, Kept his voice low, kept his smile. But men went missing after jail, Debtors vanished, witnesses pale. His badge caught sun like honest flame, While every shadow knew his name. [Chorus 1] The devil wears a badge in town, Keeps his boots clean, keeps eyes down. Writes the charges, signs the lies, And watches lawful murder rise. [Refrain 1] A badge is only iron until a coward hides behind it. [Verse 2] The Eraser read the records slow, The Eraser read the records slow, Same judge, same cell, same undertow. Prisoners moved but never logged, Names erased and pages fogged. Behind the stable, shallow ground, Sixteen buttons, two teeth found. Cole came laughing, hand at rest, Said, “You don’t know what law does best.” [Chorus 2] The law can rot behind a desk, With ink-stained hands and clean arrest. A jail can be a killing shed, When decent folks look straight ahead. [Refrain 2] Power does not change a man. It gives him room. [Verse 3] Cole drew first in the courthouse square, Confident in the watching air. Deputies shifted, townsfolk froze, No one dared to name what rose. The Eraser took the shot through rain, Dropped the badge into the stain. Then opened cells and opened graves, And counted what the county gave. [Chorus 3] The devil wore a badge too long, The devil wore a badge too long, Made the weak apologize for wrong. But iron doesn’t kneel to brass, And law can die like any class. [Refrain 3] When law protects the predator, law becomes the trail. [Outro] They buried Cole without the star, No badge upon his chest. The courthouse bell rang once at dusk, Then let the county rest.