Parenthesis

Maggie smoothes and folds

a white cotton handkerchief 

for a priest’s pocket.

Women have laid out

their menfolk’s prized Sunday best

for Mass and the march.

Flocking in chapel

a last communion wafer 

soft-melts on their tongues.

Under blue-crisp skies

voices rise in unison —

we shall overcome.

Silent coffins weep.

What was the price of protest?

Only everything.

Features on a Bogside Mural, Derry.