peninsulas mistaken
for islands
and vice versa
the purpose
of circumnavigation
inaccurately fulfilled
and the names
all wrong or
in the wrong language
after months at sea
having land ho
was thrilling in the extreme
excitement in the blood
distorted observation
surely those hills
were like home
and should be labelled so
the disrupted locals
shouting and grimacing
made for quick sketches
later to be refined in oils
and varnished
in the silence of the studio
(sunlight
of a European afternoon
on a barbarous shore)
as many conclusions
drawn from the telescope
as from those directed at the stars
