(Meditation on Robert
Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island)
The dead buccaneer's trunk
with salt-encrusted brass hinges
and heavy oak panelling
held a shabby pouch with a few doubloons
guineas and sovereigns
a chart wrapped in oilskin
showed a magnified dot in the Pacific.
The instructions read
behold a tall tree
in the shoulder of the Spyglass
compass bearings east by north east
there lies a sea chest.
Young Hawkins and the crew
searched for Captain Flint's treasure
instead they found
sand-encrusted brass hinges broken
and oak panelling splintered.
