Discretion
Above all we act with discretion
Above all we’re very discreet
We don’t hold with mindless aggression
You’ll find us inclined to be sweet
Sometimes we rattle our sabres
Sometimes we rattle your house
It’s the best way to deal with one’s neighbours
As quiet as cat meeting mouse
There’s nothing as soft as a bludgeon
When the opposite side of the street
Shares what we have, a very long grudge. On
The whole we like being discreet
Give us a pinch, we’ll send snuff you
Will sneeze for a decade or ten
Nip us, and we’ll have to cuff you
Again and again and again
With discretion (the valour included)
We’ll share out our side of the heat
Some say you’re targets. Well who did?
Not us. We are being discreet
Click here for a Guardian report
Click here to buy Bill’s poetry collection Ringers
Click here to follow Bill’s New Statesman research