silks (for jds) we tell a tale of all the world of different lands and climes how sometimes even simple things endure through changing times today we head to asia through many varied lands majestic mountains, high plateaus green steppes and desert sands its eastern bound is ocean its west a narrow strait yet to the bold inquiring mind both hold adventures great we find a boy, now traveling who set out on this stage the things he saw, the tales he told would help define an age but first let us recall the one who shaped the paths he strode and gave a name to history a fabric to his road to sight 'twas but an insect a moth : Bombyx mori but looks can be deceiving thus there's more than meets the eye for over five millennia these have been born and bred and have been cultivated to produce a single thread the rhythm of their lifecycle quite clearly is truncated to make the protein sericin they've been domesticated from their birth as tiny eggs their mission is to grow they feast on leaves of mulberry the only treat they know increase in weight a thousand times and slowly change in form to larvae, pupae, then cocoon this sequence is the norm and from their final product made of a single strand there is a larger message we'd do well to understand for each alone is nothing much but when they all combine these filaments turn into threads to silks of rare design and when these hang as vestments that robe humanity we praise these varied garments that adorn our history though emperors may build the road o'er which such commerce flows with merchants orchestrating trade the wealth of nations grows and yet the silkworm tops them all 'twill spin this tale instead : "our strength lies in the ties that bind born of each single thread and from this generosity our legacy you keep when trust is faith and faith is trust you share a kinship deep" this humble creature taught us all please do not laugh or scoff that if we structure things this way then all are better off and with a wider vision thus abandon zero sum imagine possibilities that from such thinking come and what of marco polo's quest what lessons do we know? that if we go together hence then further will we go and too : that when his time had come when death came into view in order to remove all doubt with words truer than true he gestured slow, he whispered soft to hold them all in awe : "i swear i've barely told you yet the half of all i saw" now if you ask what shall outlive these travels and their glories it's what we tell our children now in fables and in stories for o'er the course of history we note again, in sum the greatest contributions may from smallest creatures come yes in this course of history when all is said and done : we either share a single world or else are left with none rjh 1aug2026 ~ inspired by professor jeffrey sachs, "The Marco Polo Drive of Peace, Culture and Sustainable Development" https://learning.edx.org/course/course-v1:SDGAcademyX+MPD001+2T2026/home style inspired by Jarveyboy, "Dublin, June 16th, 1904 (Joyce)" https://suno.com/song/44ff1b31-2463-4985-9005-f61b982aed92 fable challenge inspired by Kate, "The Donkey Who Couldn’t Take No for an Answer" https://suno.com/song/1275719f-c9ec-43c0-bd9f-c46cf247604a sound design by rjh illustration by chat-gpt 5.6 sol (light)
