History
Freycinet smuggled his wife aboard ship
disguised as his cabin boy
until they were far enough for shore
that she could not be offloaded.
Only then did she dress
as women did.
Only then did she live
as women seldom did.
They travelled far
to places beyond known maps
camped on new-found shores
as they explored
as botanists collected
as animals emerged
as birds appeared
as artists drew
She’s there
on the edge of the painting
to the right, with Freycinet
outside their tent,
The book of the Expedition,
includes the painting.
There’s the shore.
There are the tents.
There is the gentle slope to shore.
But she is gone –
removed from history
by a stroke of paint.