Waterside

Do not walk alone.
You are a woman.
This is a war zone.
Have you learned nothing?

Sorry. I am a woman and a human
And I will walk in the shadow of gunfire.

Ten paces to the sound of birds,
Sirens, frogs, lorries, branches.

Ten minutes into a soft greenscape,
A tiny chirping stonechat

Bears feathers on her chestnut breast
That precisely match my long Republican hair.