Huge crystalline cylinders1 emerge from the water
The future
Where do they come from the King gushes2 these talking fish
Show me at once
We see the writer buried under a collapsing3 mountain of scribbled-over
papers
While ink blurts4 from an overturned bottle
Speech is silver the King mutters
Silence is
They discover a fabulous5 ancient city
Black lake
Flag of smoke
Where we turned to look
Skulls6, bats, stars, spirals, lightning bolts
Words spoken in anger
Flowers for sarcasm7
The sequence continued to work in references to the brevity of life
Garlands of flowers
Stars signaling physical impact
They discover a fabulous ancient city
Under the water
None of the inhabitants
'Be reasonable . . .'
Increasingly faint trace of inked
Flowers delicate
After that
Cat catch
The decree
Eradicate