lullaby refrain
Wild Flower of the Monkey King
A wild flower flickered in the Monkey King's palm—small as proof, loud as a crown He taught it tricks of wind and riddle-speech, to cart the dusk and tumble kingdoms down Its petals rewrote maps: veins as poems, each fold a compass that makes old borders frown So from that stubborn bloom a new legend grew, stitching history to song and earning its own renown
It snipped the red seam of the city—streets unstitched into ribbons that chased their owners' shoes A compass sprouted ears and winked; it pointed where regrets hid and led them into tickled alleys Officials found their laws folded into paper boats, floating upriver toward rumor and laughter The Monkey King clapped; the flower somersaulted through cartographers' pockets, turning order into game
The compass hiccupped and burped a constellation; stars folded into paper cranes that secreted gossip. A fish-map swam up from an alley, humming the city's private weather and bartering blue for memory. Lamp-posts unbuttoned themselves and spilled trousers of light; newborn moons stitched between the cobbles. The Monkey King winked; the wild flower winked back and sprouted a small grammar of gleam
They crossed lintels like prayers; each doorway counted as a small salvation, Compass-flowers at their collars hummed the language of pilgrimage, alleys leaning in for benediction, Homes unhooked their private hesitations and lifted them like lanterns, marching toward lighter rooms, The Monkey King set the bloom upon the final sill; the city inhaled, became a corridor for returning
Thresholds bowed like cantors; hinges unfolded hymns into the stairwells, Each lintel intoned a syllable of welcome, paint-palms pressing small benedictions, Curtains read scripture in breath; keys crossed themselves and blessed passage, People unlatched memory with prayer-knuckles, handing regrets across thresholds like coins, The wild flower hummed a bell-note that braided silence into a call‑&‑
The bell-note split its braid and hiccupped into a giggle; silence rolled up its hems Doorways swapped cantors for clowns, delivering sentences with a wink and ridiculous timing Laws untied themselves into confetti; apologies rode paper planes that boomeranged back as hugs The Monkey King clapped; the wild flower learned to wink sideways and the city grinned like a conspirator
The city shed its sharp edges like thorns; dusk smoothed each bruise with long, patient fingers Doorways unstitched hard words and braided them into scarves that warmed the ones they'd wounded Children gathered fragments of promise and mended them with spit, song, and the careful geometry of play The Monkey King smiled; the flower breathed a slow, gentle undoing that tasted of bread and second-chr
The Monkey King folded his hands; the bloom hummed a small, looping hymn that eased the city's breath. Doorways tucked their sorrows like quilts; lamplight softened into a hush and every corridor answered the same soft echo. Paper boats of law and grief sailed back to shore, capsized into laughter and the forgiving cadence of night. Streets rocked like a cradle—history stitched into sleep; the花bud
— The End —