Gossip

[114 words]

First, someone told it,
Then the room could not hold it,
So busy tongues rolled it
Till they got it outside.

Then the crowd came across it,
They stretched it and tossed it,
And never once lost it,
Till it grew long and wide.

This lie brought forth others,
Evil sisters and brothers,
And fathers and mothers,
A terrible crew.

As headlong they hurried,
The people they flurried,
And troubled and worried,
As lies always do.

So, evil it boded,
This monstrous lie goaded,
Till at last it exploded,
In sin and in shame.

But from mud and mire,
The pieces flew higher,
Till they hit the sad liar,
And killed his good name.