Colours

I remember
The gang fights of yesteryear
Street corner rumbles
Fought by men
In colours

Pseudo military bullies
In black shirts
Sam Browne’d
Jackbooted
Goose stepping
Thugs
Quasi martial
Lightning bolt insignia
Red and black

And grey men
Soot and coal-dust stained
Shaded in cloth caps
Once-white sleeves rolled up

Veterans of trenches
Pawns in The Great War
The war-to-end-all wars

Left over from the wobblies
And the International Brigade
Dulled by the Great Depression

The blue-helmeted bobby
Keeping the peace
Crashing in to settle the matter
But the matter unsettled

Unappeased
The grey men now khaki-clad
In line again
Wrapped in red
And white and blue
Declared for King and Country

The black shirts closeted

And committed

‘til next time