Amy's poem introduces Noreen, a woman who spends her days sitting in a bus shelter, staring out at the street, sometimes with a crossword in her hands. The speaker tells it like a bedtime story, asking us to gather round and close our eyes, and then paints Noreen as a sponge, quietly soaking up everything around her. She never seems to get on a bus. She just watches.
The speaker seems curious and a little tender toward her, but also unsure. The questions ("Who did she watch? Why was she there?") are never answered, which leaves Noreen a mystery. As the weeks get colder, the details of Christmas arrive: families carrying trees, the smell of sap, festive lights. Noreen stays put through all of it.
The mood is quiet and gently sad. Her "cocoon" feels both safe and lonely, and the final question, "Did anyone notice her?", hangs in the air and nudges us to think about who we walk past.