His wrinkles went somehow deeper

than those of a national will do.



And his eyes were somehow darker -

not without a brightness in them -

intelligence behind a film, foreign repose.



I saw from the hood on his red coat

that he was passing through the land

not that the coat was novel or strange

his hood was tighter, more practically donned.



His whiskers were somehow thicker

scratching the surface of the Great Land
a beard from three days’ unshaven growth

the stubble, wisdom of an Englishman.



Far different than I, not better, but old

emotions just a hair deeper hidden

than mine were: shivering in the cold.



I knew from his voice, his language: 

mine was his, mine the younger.



A shaman with a home on the Eire

though not from that verdant spot

souls are all equal, nation matters not.



An infusion of Alastair’s yarrow root 

diluted in cold, sprayed sea water

coaxed home to the waves the sunlight

our trust and a handshake.