rumor refrain

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

At dusk the Monkey King cupped the bloom like lantern-light for vanished vows, Each petal exhaled a roster of ruins, names folded into the hush of boughs, It remembers our names, soft as ash, murmured into the river's slow mouth, Farms unlatched their memories; the moon stitched back the silhouettes of towns, It remembers our names, a reed-song passing under bridges and through crowns, The flower—

The flower exhaled a low, rocking hush that braided night into a mother's coil, Petals unspooled lull and ledger both, naming hearths until the smoke forgot its hurry, Lanterns bobbed like slow-heart answers; each name folded into the palm of sleep, The Monkey King's thumb kept the beat, patient as moon-breath, coaxing cities soft and small.

The bloom went quieter than quiet, like a candle learning to keep a secret. Its petals surrendered one small fact—homes had grown where promises were sown, not stones. The Monkey King's thumb slackened; an apology settled into his palm like a patient pulse. Night leaned in; roofs inhaled the soft syllable and held it like newly sewn cloth. The river catalogued that syllable, smoothing it into a sh

smoothing it into a shiver of sound that coaxed the reeds into speech, each syllable swung like a small bell and windows unlatched to answer, roofs folded their lids away; alleys rose, a long throat exhaling names, the bloom split its breath into many little choirs and the town learned how to wake

Dawn fingers the alleys; stalls yawn open and wares breathe into speech, Petals in his palm teach prices as litany—spices counted in soft syllables, baskets reciting weight, The Monkey King's thumb runs the beat; bakers intone neighborhoods, fishwives answer in salt-sweet refrains, Bargaining bends into blessing; each exchanged name sparks a little lamp that steadies the slow street.

Minstrels move through stalls like bright beggars; a melody pins rumor to the awning, Fishwives twist headlines into choruses; bakers sell scandal by the slice with morning loaves, The Monkey King's thumb taps which tale will carry—alleys answer, choosing who will be sung, By noon every doorway keeps a chorus; tales braid into lullabies and lamp-light, strange and small.

Whispers that once ricocheted braided into a steady chorus, binding loose tales into a single seam, The Monkey King let the bloom go dim; its petals hung as lanterns at thresholds, naming who belongs and who leaves, What was gossip folded into hymn—the market's pulse became a measured song that steadied steps and shut old quarrels, He walked on with empty palms but echoes kept; the town hummed the