Don’t Be Afraid: A poem becomes a treasure map in Ireland

By Leslie Waugh
Ireland had long been on my list of places to visit, and after a fantastic two weeks in Iceland in July this year, my husband and I decided to go for it — still shaking off pandemic lockdown mode and embracing his 2020 retirement. I spent early August planning our three-week itinerary for September, before the tourist track largely shuts down. We had all the navigational tools we needed, in the form of Rick Steves’s guide to Ireland and cell phones with map apps. But what really oriented me to the Emerald Isle, across the Atlantic Ocean from our home in North Carolina, was a po...