Stuart Dischell
COLUMBUS: CHORUS
&
MONOLOGUE
I
Feeble among the palm trees.
Malaria buzzed through his sleep.
And the sun did not warm him
As it struck the branches.
Beyond the archipelago
Portuguese Asia waited.
The colonies saddened him.
The Queen had been kind;
Her husband, shrewd.
The coins of the believers
And the murdered Jews
Outfitted his ships.
The crew became lawless:
Natives withheld supplies.
From the lean-to he predicted
The 1504 solar eclipse.
Transporter of wonders,
He died at court in Spain,
Having ridden muleback
To Valladolid from Seville.
Thirty-six years later,
Below decks, in their coffins,
The bones of the Admiral
And his son Diego
Sailed again for Hispaniola,
Accustomed as they were,
Travelling one world to the other.
