Thirty years in the rearview Ain’t much left to prove When the badge comes Off your chest You find out what is still true Thirty years with a sidearm Riding heavy on my hip Chasing down the shadows Never letting trouble slip Dust upon my boots Old ghosts beneath the tread Names I still remember Faces of the dead I walked into the darkness When the daylight wouldn’t go Saw the things a man can’t unsee Felt the things he’ll never show Kept my word when it was costly Stood my ground when others ran Built my whole identity Around being a lawman Now the locker’s nearly empty And the old uniform is hung There’s a silence in the hallway Where the radio once sung They say You’ll be fine But they don’t understand When the badge Is all you’ve ever been Who are you without the lawman Tomorrow wears different No siren in the night No familiar voice Calling me back to the fight I’m grateful for the road Every wrong I tried to right But I’m standing at a new door With my past behind the light I don’t know what’s waiting Don’t know where I’ll land Thirty years of duty Still wrapped around my hands I’m scared to let it go But I’m ready to run The old watch is over And tomorrow’s just begun I know how to read a footprint Know a liar by his eyes Know the sound of trouble Hiding underneath quiet skies I can find a missing person Track a fire through the brush But I can’t find the man I was Before the world got rough I’ve been shaped by every midnight Every call and every crime Every grieving family Every case that stole My sleep at night Some memories ride shotgun Some are chained beneath the floor You can leave the line of duty But the duty leaves no more Now fear is in the freedom Questions hanging in the air What can you become tomorrow When nobody needs you there But I feel a spark still burning Underneath these battle scars Maybe I was built for more Than just surviving in the dark Tomorrow wears different No siren in the night No familiar voice Calling me back to the fight I’m grateful for the road Every wrong I tried to right But I’m standing at a new door With my past behind the light I don’t know what’s waiting Don’t know where I’ll land Thirty years of duty Still wrapped around my hands I’m scared to let it go But I’m ready to run The old watch is over And tomorrow’s just begun Look Three decades on the line Where the law meets the land Carrying hard truth With a steady hand Never chased glory Never needed a crown Just answered every time The call came down I’ve seen good men break And bad men change Seen clear blue skies Turn black with rain I stood where the lost Had nowhere to turn Paid dues in the silence Watched bridges burn Now I’m staring at a future With a blank page face No dispatch no backup No uniform in place But the skills come with me e Every scar every mile The patience the courage The grit and the trial I’m not throwing away What the old life made I’m stepping out from Underneath its shade The badge was a chapter Not the whole damn book There’s another road calling Every time I look Here’s to the ones who stood Beside me in the rain The families who waited through The worry and the pain Here’s to every fallen soul Every sacrifice unknown And every lawman carrying Burdens of his own I don’t regret the service I don’t curse the years I just won’t let my future Be controlled by fear The past can ride behind me But it can’t decide where I run I’m more than what I carried And my next life’s just begun Tomorrow wears different No siren in the night No familiar voice Calling me back to the fight I’m grateful for the road Every wrong I tried to right Now I’m standing at a new door Stepping into the light I don’t know what’s waiting Don’t know where I’ll land But I’ve got thirty years of strength Still wrapped around my hands I was scared to let it go But now I’m ready to run The old watch is over And tomorrow’s just begun Hang the hat by the doorway Let the old boots rest I gave that life my hardest Gave that life my best The badge made its mark But it doesn’t own who I’ve become Tomorrow wears different Just a new road and the rising sun
