Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Vol. 128, No. 5. Whole No. 783, November 2006

City of secrets, where even the land

beneath our feet is a lie. Now, with the waters,

history irrupts into our present: we are a false island,

ground unfairly regained, still unpaid for.

Mysteries are afoot, old friend, and good

as it has been here with you

(in our moment of repose, on this island,)

I must venture back out into the world,

back to where our shadows wait, large as mountains,

on city walls, back to barricades and the tumble

of levees, back to the world of murder, avarice,

and dogs in the nighttime.