Nordlingen 1 - M.Weisgerber

In Nordlingen's deark heart, a tale begins to unfold.
Northward cities, ruin's cruel embrace,
Rothenburg, Dinkelsbuhl; now in ashes cold!
(Mysterious blaze, death's darkened trace!)
 
For a trio came south, strange figures veiled in night,
They stood, hands clasped, a circle's dread design,
Whispered words that twisted out of sight,
In shadows cast, the town's sharp lore entwined.
 
The sun set low, a circle in the sky,
As shadows danced and time began to fade,
A hemlock stood tall, its roots a secret lie,
Guarding ancient tales in its temptuous shade.
 
Then a nub-tailed cat, a phantom in the gloom,
Its presence felt, on fringes of the mind,
Watchful, silent, like impending doom,
A feline omen, fate's enigma signed!
 
Nordlingen, ancient, steeped in mystic lore,
Suevite's heart, a meteoric fire;
Druid echoes whispering evermore,
In cobblestones and shadows, they conspire (then?).
 
Nordlingen, all aspark, now aflame! In eerie verse,
A riddle penned in embers and in smoke,
Was it Suevite's ancient, fiery curse,
Or human hands that made the town provoke?
 
A town asunder, a symphony of fright,
Where mystery and dread in chaos blend,
The trio's incantations, dark as night,
Unraveled tales that never seemed to end.
 
The tree, it watched, as flames consumed the land,
A silent witness to the town's despair,
Its roots encased in secrets, buried, grand,
As smoke and fire filled the midnight air.
 
That nub-tailed cat, elusive, slipped away,
A specter in the shadows, there and gone,
A whisper of a presence, night and day,
As Nordlingen's breath, its enigma lingered on.