Poetry from John Looker

A double mystery: 

Why was I never taught about the medieval West African emperor Mansa Musa, his wealth, his learning?

And what happened to his elder brother who abdicated the throne, sailed out on the Atlantic and vanished with all his fleet?

With this we have reached the penultimate poem in my series on historic journeys. 

This is the ninth poem of ten that contemplate the journey, the quest, the odyssey (taken from my collection Shimmering Horizons, published by Bennison Books). There’s more on this site at https://johnlooker.wordpress.com/extracts-from-shimmering-horizons/

I have remarked elsewhere (on BlueSky) that I have mixed feelings about this poem. It’s in free verse but too close to prose for me now. However, i repost it because it has its unique place in the series.

Once I’d committed myself to a series of poems about historic travellers from around the world, I had to extend my research. 

I’m ashamed by how little I knew of the Ming dynasty Admiral Zheng He: the scale of his achievements, his humble origins: captured in war, castrated and enslaved, but rising to prominence as a campaigning soldier and finally admiral. This poem is about the man more than his journeys of exploration. I suppose in part it is a reflection on how we ourselves might respond to Life’s huge challenges.

“Oh the years he’s spent away, far from court 

where the pale Confucianists’ word is law!”

It’s worth checking out the story of Zheng He. Wikipedia are good, as always: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He

This is the seventh poem in a sequence that contemplates the journey, the quest, the odyssey (taken from my collection Shimmering Horizons, published by Bennison Books).