Do you know where Hoy is?
Heard of the Old Man
(back to him in a minute)
But do you know where it is?
The Orkneys.
God's backyard.
A golden place for our silver wedding holiday.
Caught the ferry to Hoy,
Wanting to see the Old Man,
As you do.
No sign of the hand of man, 
old or young,
in the wild windswept centre,
just the road and the heather. 
And then some cheery, elderly ramblers. 
"We're the GOBs", they say,
"Geriatric Old Bastards."
They are fun. 
"Can you give me a lift to the harbour?" one says
"...got to get back to my husband."
"No problem, jump in."
We chat about that and this 
And hear hints about his health.
"Can't walk like he used to..."
And here he is,
on his feet but clearly struggling. 
A quick smile from this slow man
on seeing his wife.
Who says, "We used to go all over.
You'd never know it now,
but he's walked the Himalayas."
She chats on about his stroke, 
for which there is no magazine miracle cure. 
His brow furrows,
gathering himself to interrupt.
"oo i ow"
We look blank.
Fiercely. "oo i ow!"
"He's saying 'Do it now' "
she says with tenderness
and perhaps a little pride.
"If something's important to you,
Do it now.
One day it may be too late."
We talk, memorably,
but soon turn away.
I last see the old man leaning on her,
Limping away in his ravaged body.
Just an old man on Hoy,
But a man who loves passionately.
Loves this wild place,
loves his friends,
loves his wife, 
loves his life. 
Passionately.
I saw two old men of Hoy that day,
and know which I remember most.