A DIFFERENT FUTURE
High metal structures
dividing the roads
circling the parks
surrounding the hotel
where the leaders plot.
I have been here before :
the police stations
the army barracks
the centre of Belfast.
With friendly blue baseball caps
and reassuring badges of
'LIAISON OFFICERS' ;
bulging with weapon musclery
(concealed) , of tazers and truncheons.
Every side street blocked off
by wire-visored vehicles
and a helicopter overhead
tries to shred our chanting.
I have been here before :
the spying lights of choppers
and Saracens like small tanks,
lamps put out for road-blocks.
From Cymru, Alba, Germany, America,
like Chartists from their valleys :
tributaries joining into a river
meeting the sea at the city,
crossing the bridge with banners,
setting sail for a different future.