Same but for the difference

Twenty-six police injured during sectarian rioting in Belfast

The Guardian, 3 September 2012

Their kind gathers to feast

at about the same times

on the same meat and veg,

but with a pinch more spice

to their grace. They wear

the same shades of Ulster grey

and seem so like us away

from their gravelly estates

they might be taken for human

save for lowering their sights

when our paths meet, taking

pains to conceal their defiance

and fooling no one. True colours

bleed out when lines get crossed.

(c) 2012 Andy Hickmott

First published in Interpreter's House vol 52
'Dedicated to the best in poetry'