When you ask me from where
my family comes, do not
look surprised when I answer
that it depends on the direction
of the wind, but with nature
as no more than a passive observer.
In my case it is the fickle winds
of war and diplomacy that mark
my origins, my maternal roots
deeply planted in soil Lithuanian or
perhaps Russian or briefly Polish.
And my paternal line dances
between France and Germany
and is Irish or Ulster although
the former rightfully claims
the latter is properly its own.