Over the fan-tan table
and the tea and noodles
one admires the return
to Lisbon
of the navigator on the needlework
who sailed the Hansa routes with linen,
point-lace, hardware and camphor wood,
bearing private letters
from the Augsburg bankers
the owners of the ships of Ghent.

Now with his own slave and a clock
he stands under one sail,
looking home.
Before him coral, geese, boats
and an unknown woman
under a palm tree
with strawberries charmingly
out of proportion.