Terra Incognita

Her mystery seduces across
an ocean filled with doubts and misgiving.
It is said danger waits beyond her shores;
that travellers have lost their minds.
Now the harbours are forsaken,
there are no safe landings and
she rests, forsaken. Only ghosts of
a violent past explore her beauty.

Who knows why her siren song
calls to me so loudly, why
the contours of her face enchant ?
Nothing experienced before
has prepared me for this voyage
of exploration; wise counsel bids me
remain where I am safe. Sailors say
she was once conquered,
forced to dwell in empires of fear.
I have heard the gods once
touched her, shrouding  beauty
from the traveller’s sight.

I long to lie upon her gentle slopes
and hear at leisure the calypso song,
explore her valleys, scale her peaks
or wander through dark forests seeking
the mysteries that made her legend.
Driiads entice but many monsters lurk
and time, the unseen predator stalks a
parallel path through uncharted places

Jealous spirits conspire to keep me
from her, Sharp rocks tear the waves;
I cannot calm the waters around her
Nor break apart the vicious reef .

The memory of a dream guides me
as I navigate to unknown landfall.
The song of her soul calls across
wide water and though my voyage
into her mystery may be endless
I must go on, forever seeking
Terra Incognita.

Kirwan's story of Hy Brasil, another mysterious island