I have crossed vast oceans of time for you,
From Olduvai to burning Arab sands,
Across Ukranian Steppes I wandered too;
By Khazar fires I warmed my frozen hands.
I swam the Volga to join Gorm the Old,
Pushed prow with William on Pevensey’s shore;
At pilgrimage in Yorkshire I stood bold;
For Plantagenet, the whitest rose I wore.
And you, proud daughter of the rising sun,
From war and wisdom, soul of hammered steel;
A lord to serve and duty’s course to run;
Wisteria plain, to whom all others kneel.
Your journey strayed ‘neath oriental skies –
Now I sojourn ‘neath oriental eyes.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.