A murderer invades his neighbours’ house. And we,
the decent burghers of the town, condemn the deed.
Of course we’d love to stop the villain, but we fear
the size and shape of weapons hidden in his hand.
We hope that his resisters — bless them — understand
our truly agonising difficulties here.
To them, ‘This murder’s unacceptable,’ we plead.
‘We stand by you, applaud you, fly your flag, you see?’
The blood meanwhile is washing on the neighbours’ floor.
The murderer, encouraged, tries the house next door.