Manifest Destiny (Infinite Loop)

~ erasure poem based on The First Voyage Round the World
Antonio Pigafetta, 1874

4. 

                                                on the 
day of the Eleven Thousand Virgins         we found



                     the peaceful sea          surrounded by
mountains covered with snow


                                                   within the Bay
where in the night we had a great storm

                                 went further on and found a bay

                                                         Amongst
us we thought                          we saw       two ships under
all sail, with ensigns spread                    Afterwards

              inside this strait we found       two mouths



                                          one of the two
        whom we had taken              died

                     the captain-general sent   the ship named     Victory   
                                    the people  
                                 were to place an ensign on the summit
with a letter inside a pot

        : and he caused a cross to be set upon a small island


                                in it we found
a good port                good waters, wood all of cedar,      fish 

                            there is not in the world a more beautiful country


           when we wounded          this          people
        immediately afterwards they died


                women      cried out and tore their hair
for the love of those           we had killed

These people 

                   adore nothing, and 

                                    go naked

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