Lore-Lined

This land is layered and lined

In tongues and tales, waves

Breaking upon waves, from

Marshes to meadows, from

Pagan to papist, where do you

Go to pry into your roots?

We have been party to every

Thing, are kin to nearly all

Our neighbours, are tangled

Into every strand. If history

Is what you want, we have

Been friends to foes and

Foes to friends; no one is

Entirely estranged, if one

Goes back far enough.

If meaning is what you seek,

Take what sends its ripples

Into your reveries, but look

To land first and last, for as

Seamus said: ‘We are earth-

Worms of the earth, and all

That has gone through us is

What will be our trace.’