Mesmerizing Mauritius
originating with the Malays in the Middle Ages
was named for Prince Maurice of Nassau

Mauritius - once called the Îsle de France
the sound of the name always lured me
starting like my Christian name
but with exotic elevation

or was the title, like the word "morose,"
similar by sound to mine, and nothing more?

Mauritius, I discovered in my research
as a republic set within a ring
of coral reefs and once-active
volcanic mountains

a marketer of tea and sugar cane
(now there's a shared liking, for you
just a moment, I'll hot the pot, set out
the dainty sugar bowl)

a land steeped in the ancestry of Indian, Creole, Dutch
the languages, the crops
the clear azure over the coral shelf
the ring of risk of ancient lava bursts

an enticing namesake island
that finds me
wanting to make it mine
Mauritius
mesmerizing

12/01/2000