ROYAL MIST HAVEN
(the longest thing I have ever written)
1. - I set out for the seas on a wild tide
of myopia : the furnace was bared
and the three ships sailed. Isabella,
my Isabella, we have found new
lands. The men remain restless and
we have lost quite a few and the people
on shore were not there, though they
stared. We saw them first and no one
blinked : wild-eyed and a'frenzy, the
men screamed out prayers. 'Isabella,
oh Isabella, we have found new lairs.' I
sent ashore others than me, and remained
aboard until told it was sure. They had
somehow made a contact, and no one
was slain. We entered their sand-line,
one foot by one foot, unsure - of leopards
or tigers or death or contagion; some gifts
we bore, others we related; the men had
found a tongue with which to speak. How,
I still do not know. Miraculous intrigue!
'Isabella, oh Isabella, we have found
new scenes.'
-
2. - It must have been October then?
The things we saw bore no trace of
trying; seas embroiled and rhythms of
time. The men kept praying, and loudly
so, to the Virgin and the Savior and the
skies by which we'd plotted, though so
little, really, had come of it. Isabella, we
know not where we are. I speak a frank
truth. And only today we have lost four
men in a boat-side ambush somewhere
along the shore. They came back, four,
dead, with throats cut out and spears
instead. I know not, yet, what to do.
Praying to God again, I will re-enter
that land the morrow, and see what
it can bring. And if I too die, Isabella,
I sing : 'We have found new lands.'
-
3. - And, yes, I bore a charcoal
stick for the shipside fire; cooking,
those cooks were kept busy, to
rekindle their fears and keep their
fires ablaze while cooking what
they could : the fish and the grounds,
the meats, the potatoes. No one dared
exit, but by edict of me. Isabella, I
was King of this sea. Your Ferdinand,
perhaps, again I will be. (Yet, lo,
I must first return to thee). These
natives, lining the shores, have a
penchant for violence, and more :
they eye the men strangely, and kill;
though I cannot blame them, for we
slay just as many, but so it needs be.
'Isabel, oh Isabel, have we found
the new sea?'
-
4. - Great bounty? Yes, maybe but
here is nothing I can see - the trees
are dense but in a tropical way and
these natives are like pearls on the sand.
Too numerous are all these things to
mention, and we have grown weary of the
sailing. Needing land we took it. I planted
your flag and proclaimed your name -
though I needed a cannon next to me.
The local people stared, as they've stared
since we arrived : three billowy ships
and nothing they'd ever seen before.
Isabella, oh Isabella, we have
found a new shore? I grow hungry
for something, but there is no more.
-
5. - I cannot walk, nor can so many
of the men; we are stricken, and
until it passes only this foul courier
note shall do - if it ever reaches you.
'Isabella, we may have fallen.' I am
not sure this is a place for us at all.
I dreamed again I was back in chains,
laboring under heavy weights in some
Iberian prison with only my natives to
show. I will bring some back for you.
Isabella, oh Isabella, will that do?'
-
2. - It must have been October then?
The things we saw bore no trace of
trying; seas embroiled and rhythms of
time. The men kept praying, and loudly
so, to the Virgin and the Savior and the
skies by which we'd plotted, though so
little, really, had come of it. Isabella, we
know not where we are. I speak a frank
truth. And only today we have lost four
men in a boat-side ambush somewhere
along the shore. They came back, four,
dead, with throats cut out and spears
instead. I know not, yet, what to do.
Praying to God again, I will re-enter
that land the morrow, and see what
it can bring. And if I too die, Isabella,
I sing : 'We have found new lands.'
-
3. - And, yes, I bore a charcoal
stick for the shipside fire; cooking,
those cooks were kept busy, to
rekindle their fears and keep their
fires ablaze while cooking what
they could : the fish and the grounds,
the meats, the potatoes. No one dared
exit, but by edict of me. Isabella, I
was King of this sea. Your Ferdinand,
perhaps, again I will be. (Yet, lo,
I must first return to thee). These
natives, lining the shores, have a
penchant for violence, and more :
they eye the men strangely, and kill;
though I cannot blame them, for we
slay just as many, but so it needs be.
'Isabel, oh Isabel, have we found
the new sea?'
-
4. - Great bounty? Yes, maybe but
here is nothing I can see - the trees
are dense but in a tropical way and
these natives are like pearls on the sand.
Too numerous are all these things to
mention, and we have grown weary of the
sailing. Needing land we took it. I planted
your flag and proclaimed your name -
though I needed a cannon next to me.
The local people stared, as they've stared
since we arrived : three billowy ships
and nothing they'd ever seen before.
Isabella, oh Isabella, we have
found a new shore? I grow hungry
for something, but there is no more.
-
5. - I cannot walk, nor can so many
of the men; we are stricken, and
until it passes only this foul courier
note shall do - if it ever reaches you.
'Isabella, we may have fallen.' I am
not sure this is a place for us at all.
I dreamed again I was back in chains,
laboring under heavy weights in some
Iberian prison with only my natives to
show. I will bring some back for you.
Isabella, oh Isabella, will that do?'
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