And Then There Were Nuns

Black hoodie, black gloves and a black balaclava Allegiances born of belligerent father A council estate with yards full of tyres A rucksack that’s laden with tin tacks and wires Cars outside boozers where loyalist losers Don’t spot the briefcase with time delay fuses One man and his neighbour of different persuasions Soldiers and ministers weighing equations Each side will tear you apart with their bombs Some will send ‘letters’ to where you are from Some cite religion or national pride Or family honour when taking a side Orange and green the colours of choice BBC using an imposter’s voice Still the news media expresses surprise When pubs, cars and trucks light up the skies A town-centre nightclub to which people flock Across the street came Messrs Browning and Glock In hands now committed to unleash their guns They fingered their triggers... and then there were nuns *** [During ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, whilst many individuals were targeted due to their religious persuasion, targeted attacks on any particular religious institution were, seemingly, rare. A lengthy chat with Mr Google named two Catholic priests who were deliberately killed, but only one nun who was killed when she happened-on-by a bombing; she remains the only nun killed (albeit inadvertently) because of ‘The Troubles’. ‘And Then There Were Nuns’ simply prompts the question (to which I have no answer) what would a team of gunmen do next if a group of Nuns wandered into their ‘hit’?]