ON NOTICE — Summary

This time, I will not hide. I am waiting for you, ready with yellow flowers, with clear water and a red bird, with white paper and a lamp. This time, you will not succeed.

Now I know the words, I know the tune. I have been singing all day long. My hair smells like apples. My hands are stained with currant juice and mud. Do you think

you can break in again? I have collected all your keys and all my windows are open. Did you see the moon last night? I have nothing you can destroy and everything I have is yours.

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The speaker addresses someone who has hurt or invaded her before, and she announces that things are different now. Instead of hiding, she prepares for the meeting: flowers, clean water, paper, a lamp. These are small, gentle things, yet she lines them up like defenses. The poem suggests that her strength comes from being fully herself, not from locks or walls.

Her feelings are a mix of defiance and calm. She has been singing all day, her hair smells of apples, her hands are stained with juice and mud. She is grounded and alive, and that makes her hard to break. The line about collecting all the keys turns the tables: she has taken away the intruder's old power, and the open windows show she no longer fears being seen.

The final lines hold the poem's twist. She has "nothing you can destroy" because she gives everything freely. The mood is steady, bright, and quietly fierce.

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