For Isabel McDonald, a veteran Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office officer and longtime K-9 handler, writing poetry began as a deeply personal effort to offer peace to the grieving. Now, her words will be read across the National Mall.
McDonald’s poem, “When I Don’t Come Home One Day,” will be printed in the official program for the 37th Annual Candlelight Vigil during National Police Week in Washington, D.C. — a tribute read silently by thousands who gather to honor the fallen.
“I never imagined it would have been part of the Candlelight Vigil program for Police Week in Washington,” McDonald said. “I am so honored and humbled for the opportunity to share the words of what I truly believe are the words of the fallen.”
Below, you can read McDonald’s poem, “When I Don’t Come Home One Day,” featured on the second page of the 37th Annual Candlelight Vigil program.
The inspiration for the poem came from a personal loss within her own department.
“When we lost one of our officers, I looked for poems that could comfort the family and officers but couldn’t find any. I wrote this poem because I wanted to share our perspective and help others understand what we go through. My aim is to help anyone else who has lost a loved one feel some type of closure,” McDonald said.
Soon, she began sending personalized posters of the poem to every police agency in the United States that lost an officer last year.
But when a Miami-Dade fire lieutenant died by suicide last year, she decided to take it a step further — adapting the poem for fire departments and delivering printed versions of the poem to departments and families across Miami-Dade County. Almost immediately after, military officers at Jackson Hospital, the top training center for deployments, then asked her to write one for their service members.
“The poem speaks to everyone and for different reasons,” McDonald said. “As long as it helps bring closure to the pathway of grief, I have completed my mission.”
And it has done just that as McDonald has received countless messages of thanks and support: “The best compliments have been from the survivors coming up to me expressing their gratitude, telling me that the words I spoke were the answers they had always wondered about and that they now have closure.”
McDonald is also the voice behind another tribute shared this week — this one dedicated to departments’ four-legged heroes.
Below, listen to Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office K-9 Officer Isabel McDonald read her original poem, “When I Don’t Come Home One Day.”
A bond like no other
At the National Police Week K-9 Memorial Service, McDonald read her original poem, “The Police K-9,” honoring this year’s 22 fallen K-9s. She wrote the poem in memory of her first K-9, who died last year at the age of 14.
“I decided to make a K-9 poem since that is what I have been doing for the past 11 years,” she said. “The bond we share with our four-legged friends is like no other.”
That same bond was felt across her department following the heartbreaking loss of K-9 Roxi, a member of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit, who died from injuries sustained when the car she was riding in was hit during a drug bust pursuit.
“I read the poem for the first time at our own K-9 memorial when our department suffered the tragic loss of K-9 Roxi,” McDonald said. “When I met the handler, all I said was that I hoped I honored her the way she should have been, and he said ‘absolutely,’ and that’s what it’s all about.”
McDonald’s current K-9 partner has been by her side for seven years and she hopes for many more: “We spend more time with them on a day-to-day basis than our own families,” she said. “I am more than humbled and honored to have the opportunity to express what I feel is what the K-9s do for us.”
‘We may not come home’
At the heart of McDonald’s message is a truth every officer, and every family who loves one, understands.
“I truly believe that the ultimate sacrifice is giving one’s self so another or others may live,” she said. “To the families left behind, I want nothing else other than the message of realizing that every day we leave our home, we all know that there is the possibility that ‘we may not come home.’ However, since we can’t really say that to them every day, this poem is a message that speaks from the other side so they can find closure and know that everything they did and said was enough.”
For McDonald, writing these poems is more than a calling — it’s a deeply personal mission.
“These poems have allowed me to share a piece of my soul ... speaking the words of those that can no longer do so.”
NEXT: Hear from Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office K-9 Officer Isabel McDonald as she shares what it’s like to serve as a Seaport K-9 handler and reflects on her unique path into law enforcement.
