The Celts
 

Generations overlap like fine threads
   of plaid from Madras to Edinburgh,
foot, chariot, and ship follow
        untried routes as circuitous
as brooch designs,
a brief pause, as history goes,
   to settle Galatia,
but was this the Galatia
      of Turkey?
      or Eastern Europe?
      or Iberian Spain?
A Celtic smile is a knowing smile,
the answer itself is a riddle
within the riddle,
"All three,"
the leaves of a shamrock,
triple image of the same people.

Creators of room and board
package deals
one easy price for
those in a hurry to press on,
and the wine barrel,
able to roll up and down mountains
on the path out of town
like their iron-rimmed chariots
the Romans admired.

When you hum the first few bars
of an Irish folk-song,
don't be surprised
if a Hindu can finish
the rest of the tune.
From India, Turkey, Yugoslavia,
Hungary, Bavaria, Northern Italy
Spain, France, Breton, Cornwall,
Wales, Scotland and Ireland,
their eyes bathed on a
changing palette of greens,
their hands dusted
in salt and struggle,
and their own blood
kneaded into the new Celtic earth.