Rumors like tattered flags

wind-snapped and echoing

in the streets below

told the tale of the days upon us . . .

’Twas said an eel had slipped ashore

or not one but a thousand

under a jagged moon that might be dead,

’twas whispered that a claw scraped slow

on the city’s cobbles, even as a dragon

was seen sailing high silver and black in the night sky.

’Twas heard, they say, a demon’s death cry

on the rooftops on a night of blood, even

as the master’s hundred hands lost

a hundred daggers to the dark,

and ’twas rumored then, a lady

masked highborn had offered to unbidden guests

a fête to remember . . .

RUMOR BORN
FISHER (B.?)