Mirage

                         —Ibn Batuta, a 14 century Moroccan,

became the Muslim worlds Marco Polo.

He crossed the Sahara expecting wealth

& robes of honor in Timbuktu. His gifts:

"three rounds of bread, a piece of beef

fried in gharti, a calabash with curdled milk."

Later, at a small feast of a root like taro,

all six of his party took ill. One died.

Batuta survived by forcing himself to vomit.

The world was larger than hed imagined,

& in weakness he thought his dead friend lucky.

On the trip home, Batuta found hed lost

rapport with the gait of camels but could now

derive a certain comfort by admiring endless

shapes of women lounging along the dunes.

The sand would never again be so forgiving.