POEM
Old World New World
Spices and gold once cast a spell
on bearded men in caravels.
New World New World cried history
Old World Old World sighed every tree.
5 But Indian tribes long long ago
had sailed this archipelago.
They who were used to flutes of bone
translated talk of wind on stone.
Yet their feathered tongues were drowned
10 when Discovery beat its drum.
New World New World—spices and gold
Old World Old World—the legends told.
New World New World—cried history
Old World Old World—sighed every tree.
Critical Viewing: Theme Balboa “discovered” the Pacific Ocean in 1513. How would the local Native Americans have viewed this “discovery”?
Vasco Nuzez de Balboa Discovering the Pacific Ocean, 1931, J. L. Kraemer.