We sit together in a biting wind

at Sydney Cove

while you talk of thin places

and we agree

that this is one of those—
filled with the spirits of your people

who had lived here for millennia

and my people who had come

and gone
I say

Tugaim ómós do do sheanóirí a bhí

agus atá ann fós

my words carried on

the bitter breeze

in my native tongue

that was torn from my people

along with our true names,

stories, songs—

one in every three

of my people perishing

during our own

enslavement on a farflung coast
From my lips to the ears

of your ancients

I implore

as

we sit together

in a biting wind at Sydney Cove

while you talk of thin places

and we agree

that this is one of those
Tugaim ómós do do sheanóirí a bhí agus atá ann fós means ‘I give tribute to your elders who were and who are here still’ in the

Irish language (Gaeilge).