The first shamrock summit took place on a summit - literally.
That would have been, as the story goes, the fifth century encounter between Saint Patrick and the High King of Ireland.
The king had all the cards, at least in terms of temporal power.
Patrick had all the cards drawn from the spiritual realm.
The king, presumably, had swords, spears, shields and so forth, and men willing to use them.
Patrick was armed with a tiny plant with three leaves attached to a single stem.
We know the story from here on.
Many centuries would pass before someone came up with the notion of a shamrock summit.
But it was not a title inspired by a meeting in the White House between a visiting taoiseach and a U.S. president with both honoring Saint Patrick's Day.
No, the first such summit was the March 17–18, 1985 meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and President Ronald Reagan in Quebec City.
Given that both leaders were of Irish heritage, and their meeting began on Saint Patrick's day, the encounter became known as the "shamrock summit."
The concept stuck and the description can today be readily applied to Saint Patrick's Day in the White House and the presentation to the president of a bowl of shamrock.
There will be such a summit this Saint Patrick's Day when Taoiseach Micheál Martin arrives for his meeting with President Trump in the gold-adorned Oval Office.
Suffice it to say President Trump has all the swords, spears and shields and has been using a lot of them in recent days, figuratively speaking in one sense, literally in another.
Mr. Martin is ahead of Saint Patrick.
The saint had a single shamrock.
Martin has a bowl load.
Patrick also had a message that was an early-days example of truth speaking to power.
Many eyes and ears will be attuned to what is said in the Oval Office by both men; what is said above and beyond the humdrum and banal. It's a tough one for Martin.
He will be meeting with a man who exemplifies a heads I win tails you lose way of conducting business.
The meeting, from Martin's side of things, has to rise above last year's encounter which, from an Irish perspective, was, in certain moments, more than a little cringe- inducing.
The world was a tough place a year ago.
It is far tougher now and if Martin wants to raise serious matters with his host he has a veritable cornucopia to draw from.
Or perhaps it's a bowl.
Regardless, the host has the floor and the guest will be put in more of a position of responding/reacting.
Martin is just not the head of the Irish government.
He is a European Union head of government and Ireland will take over the presidency of the EU in a few months.
It could well be the case that not just Ireland, but the capitals of a few EU countries will be attuned to the chatter over the bowl's green contents.
And of course many Irish Americans will be taking a particular interest.
We will see how it all turns out but it is to be hoped that the spirit of Saint Patrick at least gets a degree of airing in a world where far too many people, due to war, hunger and oppression, are breathing their last air.
Beyond all this, and as we always do this time of year, we wish all a happy and peaceful Saint Patrick's Day.
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig.
