Rime Isle

Rime Isle was a place invented by Fritz Lieber; several of the later stories about Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser take place there. This poem doesn't refer directly to any events in those stories, but it has some of the feel of Newhon, a world that's littered with ruined temples and dead gods (and a few all-too-alive ones).

His hands are splotched with age
and mapped with keloids. They trace
chthonic rites at the feet of a statue
stained with verdigris and brine.

The bend of space that hid this isle in
a dimensional pocket came undone long ago
and now the sky is full of contrails, which are
no damned use for divination.

Where are the heroes who used to come steal
the squid-idol's gemmed eyes? Old priest
of an old god on a forgotten island
in an ancient sea, mumbling unheard prophecies
into a rime-white beard.

for Poefusion. Note that I replaced "splodged" with "splotched": it's a synonym, and "splodged" sounds sort of clumsy-comical to my ear.

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