THE CITY IN THE SANDS, by Ann K. Schwader
194 Words
THE CITY IN THE SANDS, by Ann K. SchwaderBecause they understood no gods but theirs,
& cut themselves adrift from history,
A pack of ragged jackals made their lair
Among half-buried ruins, unaware
They trespassed in the realm of mysteries.
No hand of man raised up the nameless stones
That formed this place. No human thought conceived
Its guardians—for we are not alone,
& never have been through the eons flown
Since void-spawned terrors taught our world to grieve.
The jackals with their ropes & hammers broke
Each image of those guardians to shards
& shattered shadows. “Heresy”, they spoke
In undertones, unwilling to provoke
The twilight creeping softly. Falling hard.
They kindled watch-fires in the city streets,
Sustaining them on scavenged texts whose tongues
Were old before Irem… & yet no heat
Arose from so much burning to defeat
A depth of desert chill that bit & stung.
At last a bitter gust of wind arose
That sent a thousand shadows clawing high
In spectral vengeance as their victims froze,
Acknowledging in vain the shapes of those
Lost guardians now blotting out the sky.
Bereft of men & gods alike, these walls
Lie silent in the selfsame dawn that shone
On Sarnath & Mnar. Here too the call
Of history rang clearly over all
This shifting sand that whispers over bones.
- Writer
