The Lorelei Signal
Last Child of the Sun
Written by Matthew Wilson / Artwork by Lee Ann Barlow
Return today to me, let yesterday be undone
This last child of Helios, last blood drop of the sun.
My brother was to be the hero, I was a lonely spare
A daughter without purpose, spilling wine without a care.
For generations my kin fought hard for their victory
While I rotted hopeless, with nothing good in me.
When the moons army woke, my brother whispered in my ear
But I’d have no part in his story, this spoiled girl made of fear.
At last and too late he wished me at his side
But I was absent when his army stumbled, and was taken by the tide.
The moons army is a menace that swore to escape the night
Turning villages to ashes and then swallowing the light.
I have lived selfish and too long as all cowards will
Now corpses that were heroes swing in chains upon the hill.
The moon hates the day for no good summer is ever cold
The moon is jealous as I was, with a pettiness endless old.
Celene has always wished to kill the sun, to drink the blood of war
And so I took the armor off my brother and lay his body at the shore.
So return today to me, let yesterday be washed from the land
This last daughter of Helios who hesitated. Who finally has to stand.
My brother’s sword is heavy, but against the dusk I race
This spare wishing for redeeming, banishing the moon back to his place.
Matthew Wilson has been published repeatedly in Star*LIne, Night to Dawn magazine, Hiraeth Publishing and many more, his first story collection "Gargoyles of the Abbey" is now available from kindle.