The History of Map Making

[a poetess' take on "Location, Location, Location..."]

How simple navigation was
back in the day when all the known world
could be contained on a disc of clay
impressed with images to show
our house and the neighbor's field,
the river before it flooded,
and the smoking mountain on the horizon;
guardian dragons forbade us to roam beyond.
We always knew just where we stood.

Then measurements were made and
all around the land was round;
Eratosthenes observed the shadow of the sun
and was the first to tell how many football fields
it took to gird the world. Sailors journeyed
far across the sea, failed to be consumed
by monsters, and so, the horizon
disappeared.

Today the moon and stars are charted --
and beyond, destinations pinpointed,
never to be reached. Yet sometimes
I don't know just where I'm headed,
even though I've been around;
left my backyard, even been to hell and back.
But there, off in the distance, I see dragons
and they just won't let me pass.

Image: OnlineWebLibrary