now i hardly felt as if a shell could hurt
my pocket-watch would deflect it
or this notebook would snatch a sniper's
bullet just before it struck my heart
larks would interpose a stray chaffinch
or partridge would find the feathers
on its head were numbered and i would walk
between strafings like a moth flies
through the rain on a moonless night
i hardly felt  it left me untouched