I DO NOT FEAR YOU

I have known fear and it is not of men in helmets
so I am not afraid of you
with your youth and strength.
I wonder at you and perhaps I pity you.
I can see your eyes beneath the visor, seeing me
wondering at me, pitying me.
You see my face, strong with colour.
My hair, proudly purpled.
My eyes bolded,
all the better for you to see them, my dear.
My cheeks, bronzed by my hand
as if by sun and wind.
My lips, reddened with courage.
You wear your protection of blue
The colour of safety.
Your helmet has see-me stripes of yellow,
the colour of hazard.
I wear the colours of bird’s wing, of water, of field and leaf.
And I do not fear you.
I fear for you.