one day,
marco polo arose,
buckled his shoes &
set out for the empire
of sun
rise.
cathay.
distant, luminous,
miraculous kingdom
fogged in
dream.
& somewhere,
beyond the unnumbered
strides of the
camel,
waited
the radiance of the emperor.
& finally,
by parchment & firelight,
the adventure
fully imagined––
the telling
of the untold
story.