A Las Vegas police officer’s poem about the slayings of five fellow officers in Dallas has gone viral.

Lt. Harry Fagel of the Major Violator Section wanted to honor his fellow officers for shining their boots and their badges and going out every day to protect the rest of us. A Facebook video of him reading “A Brief Note for Dallas” had a quarter-million views by the end of last week.

"These terrible things happen and everybody feels it," he told KNPR's State of Nevada.

Fagel, a 23-year police veteran, uses his writing as a catharsis for the stress of his job. He says poetry is “absolutely” part of his personal healing process.

"I've been writing for as long as I can remember but I think it was 20 some years ago that I realized this would provide a catharsis for the type of work that I do," he said.

"I'm always hopeful when I write something that it has some sort of universal truth to it," Fagel said, "And when people respond in kind that they felt that it touched their heart and it's what they wanted to say."