SELAPHESNE

SELAPHESNE, by Kevin Sandefur, with artwork by Simon Walpole

 

The proud banners tremble and drift as they fall,

Like a tapestry tumbling soft from the wall,

But there aren’t any guards left to answer the call

Of the palace bugle.

 

It sounds out so sprightly, so sweet, and so clear,

With a luster that sings in the patriot’s ear,

But no brave souls remain now alive who can hear

Its final challenge.

 

For the city has fallen, the empire’s lost.

Yet finally whelmed only at great cost

Were its last defenders.

 

All in silence now are the broad streets paved.

Its heroes all slaughtered, its people enslaved,

The city sleeps

 

And dreams of empires yet to be born,

And the clarion calls of still distant horns

To be.

 

But for now, no more bright sounds arise from its stones

Save the chitter of insects, the rattle of bones,

And the small voice that whispers from long empty thrones

The lesson of history: “No one may contend

with the final mad grandeur at all glory’s end.”

 

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Kevin Sandefur is the Capital Projects Accountant for the Champaign Unit 4 School District. His fiction has appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, The Gateway Review, The Sunlight Press, and Pulp Literature. He lives with his wife and two cats in Champaign County, Illinois, which is a magical place where miracles happen almost every day, and hardly anyone seems to find that remarkable.

 

Simon Walpole has been drawing for as long as he can remember and is fortunate to spend his freetime working as an illustrator. He primarily use pencils, pens and markers and use a bit of digital for tweaking. As well as doing interior illustrations for various publishing formats he has also drawn a lot of maps for novels. his work can be found at his website HandDrawnHeroes.