BELFAST

Steel ball swings

remorseless.

Mortared dust

shrouds plastered remains

and jagged brick.

Papered stripes exposed

to bus weary gaze.

Secrets, birth, death

invaded:

Depeopled.

Concreted windows

Concreted doors

Tenanted by skeetering rats

Unafraid, multiplying,

The undefeated.