Theatrum Orbis Terrarum

Nothing better illustrates
Imagination’s
Incapacity,
Absent any evidence,

To conjure a world
To rival the world
Than the history of maps.

A pretty planisfero
Has a few monsters,
Ptolemaic coherence,
And is more blank than detail.

Then the actual ships sailed,
And cartography blossomed
Volumes of Ortelius.