Plea bargain

Their life’s journey is a treasure quest,

tough to solve for any X

with all the mortal obstacles.

They hunt for hints by feeling

for warmth on fingertips, and continents.

Not coming near a single solid clue

that was graspable within 

the fingered seams of coast.

Their tokens stacked tall,

They have amassed considerable ease

and yet

Nothing seemed more natural

Than making maps with more

movable lines, theoretical angles

and following the footsteps before

like ants

Inevitable colonizing, war was natural.

The wrong place at the right time.

Mountains make them move another way,

the learning left no trace

Of the gilt progress. 

Image credit(ed) By Jacob d'Angelo after Claudius Ptolemaeus[1] Nicolaus Germanus (www.polona.pl), Cosmographia , 1467 in [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.