Fumble frightened past the
Fool's gold
Through the door to reap the Truth.”
Without being asked, Sharp took my place and read the next two stanzas:
“Onward graceful silver wolf
Go grip the glittered sun
Take the world into
Your hands
The dire dance is won
The music breaks the air in two
The dancer keeps the beat
Tempo, pirouette, resolve,
Rhythm,
Rise, retreat.”
Something made her freeze here, so Piranha read the next two with a jaunty rhythm:
Mighty little monster
Fight the silence, fight the lies
Keep your feet flat on the ground
On the horizon
Keep your eyes
Wind and rain and thunderstorm
The ATMOSPHERE unbroken
But do not shelter from
The rain
Until the lies are spoken.”
Not wanting to be left out, Willow jumped in to finish the poem, reading it without his characteristic brightness:
“Foot it, little featherbird
And try to sing in tune
The wind will pull you to
The sky
The light will find you soon
A hush proceeds the storm
Rush headlong to disaster
One day we’ll all talk about
The calm
That happens after.”
“What is this supposed to mean?” I asked, scanning the words again. “It mentions a badger in the first line, but how can you be sure it’s me?”
Mercury crackled next to us. Willow startled and hopped backwards, but the teleporter ignored him. “Interpreting poetry is my favorite pastime,” he drawled, pointing at the first two stanzas. “None of the words are an accident. ‘Badger’ is capitalized, denoting a name. The phrase ‘fool's gold’ is no doubt a reference to Pyrite, named for a type of mineral that looks like gold.”
My heart started to beat faster. With these thoughts in mind, I read it once more. Fumble frightened past the fool’s gold.
“I think… this is about all of us,” Sharp whispered, a delicate finger touching the word ‘dance’.
