When I traced the routes of....

                   ...the Explorers

     In the forecastle
              [of the Liberty* "Greek Pine"          
        holding a thin rope,
                                  [a heaving line*, 
        I had a certain strange feeling.

Holding a heaving line

        It would be better said,
                       [a thought appealing...
        It would be better said,
                             [strange rationale....

        Our ship was sailing into the 
                                 [Panama canal,
        in the westerly direction
        and this was the cause
                  [of the connection
        between me.....
                    and the Explorer....

        Panama was the origin
                        [of our restorer
        and when we arrived in the canal,
        I said to him...
            ''tell me about your country pal''.

        He willingly talked to me about it all.

        When he mentioned
                     [Vasco De Balboa*,
        I heard weeping from Raul,
        because that was also the name of his mother..
        He said to me
       "they both belonged to the same family, brother.

                         _________ * * __________


        In a few hours it was my turn
                                        [to be emotionally moved.

        I traveled many years
                                      [and I never was unmoved
        when I traced the routes
                                       [of the past explorers,
        when I was trailing traces
                                      [of those old seafarers,
        in a way I was living mentally in their time.

        In Panama,
                      I followed Balboa, but the regime,
        as I was informed
                               [had executed him long ago.

        In the Pacific I followed Magellan, but woe
        the warriors of Lapu-Lapu* killed him in battle.            

        In the Atlantic I followed Columbus.....
                                        [and a sailor from Seattle
        told me that the explorer is in prison in Spain.
        In my short story (in the history of the world).... 
                                                            [a third stain ...
______________________________________________


*Extract from "The Broken Mooring Line", an experiential
poetic work // c48// e-mail: pmataragas@yahoo.com //
Texts and Narration: Odysseus Heavilayias - ROTTERDAM //
Language adjustments and text adaptation: Kellene G Safis - CHICAGO//
Digital adaptation and text editing: Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga - PIRAEUS// _______________________________________________________________



1. The Liberty ship was a class of cargo ship built in the United States during 
World War II.
SS John W. Brown on the Great Lakes in 2000. John W. Brown is one of only two surviving World War II Liberty Ships, the other being the SS Jeremiah O'Brien.





2. Heaving line (nautical term) : A rope with a heavy knot on the end light enough for a seaman to throw to a dock or another vessel. The bitter end of the heaving line is secured to the end of a heavier dockline or towing line so that it can then be hauled over



3. Lapu-Lapu (fl. 1521) was a ruler of Mactan in the Visayas. The Philippines regards him as the first Filipino hero because he was the first native to resist Spanish colonization through his victory over the explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Monuments of Lapu-Lapu have been built in Manila and Cebu while the Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Fire Protection use his image in his honor.

He is best known for the Battle of Mactan, which happened at dawn on April 27, 1521. The battle halted the Magellan expedition and delayed Spanish occupation of the islands by over forty years until the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi in 1564.

Besides being a rival of Rajah Humabon of Cebu, little is known about the life of Lapu-Lapu and the only existing documents about his life are those written by Antonio Pigafetta. His name, origins, religion, and fate are still a matter of controversy.

The Battle of Mactan (Cebuano: Gubat sa Mactan; Filipino: Labanan sa Mactan; Spanish: Batalla de Mactán) was fought in the Philippines on 27 April 1521, prior to Spanish colonization. The warriors of Lapu-Lapu, a native chieftain of Mactan Island, defeated Spanish forces under the command of Ferdinand Magellan, who was killed in the battle.

4. Vasco Núñez de Balboa: The 16th-century Spanish conquistador and explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475-1519) helped establish the first stable settlement on the South American continent at Darién, on the coast of the Isthmus of Panama. In 1513, while leading an expedition in search of gold, he sighted the Pacific Ocean. Balboa claimed the ocean and all of its shores for Spain, opening the way for later Spanish exploration and conquest along the western coast of South America. Balboa’s achievement and ambition posed a threat to Pedro Arias Dávila, the Spanish governor of Darién, who falsely accused him of treason and had him executed in early 1519.


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