‘Giving Away the Kingdom’
Shelbey Leco is a mixed media artist. Her style was heavily influenced by her grandmother growing up. As a child, when spending time with her grandmother, Leco enjoyed coloring in giant coloring books. Her grandmother soon realized that Shelbey went through art supplies rather quickly. So, her grandmother taught her the art of zentangle, by creating various patterns and shapes within negative spaces. Through time, Leco’s work developed more into mixed media, however repetition and pattern work is present in her work today.
Giving Away the Kingdom
The inept king does nothing—
Idle, detached, ignorant.
He sits on the throne, unmoved,
Odious and bungling,
A spectator to his kingdom’s decline.
He makes no effort,
No desire to restore
That which is broken.
As it all deteriorates,
Piece by piece,
Until nothing remains—
Only rot and ruin.
His covetous kin and sycophantic companions,
They thrive,
For they are powerful and persuasive,
Lacking even the tiniest shred of shame—
Profiteering and plundering,
Feeding him hollow adulation,
Satiated by their greed,
And his blissful oblivion.
It is the people who endure—
Voices silenced by indifference and apathy,
While he feasts,
Engulfed in his revelry,
Unmoved by their cries,
As the streets seethe with vengeance,
Thick with hatred, unbridled.
Everyone can see—
He is a fraud—
Impotent, disgraceful,
A willing enabler of decline.
He should be ashamed,
But instead, he is elated,
As the kingdom burns around him.
Unseeing, willfully blind,
He smiles with vacant delight,
Unaware of enemies closing in—
Some concealed, others apparent.
Exploiting the vulgar decadence—
Degrading what still remains.
Crumbling fortifications—
Tattered banners—
The inevitable collapse draws near.
When the kingdom falls,
His failure will be written in ash,
A stain on his lineage,
A blight upon the throne.
Someday, he shall be dethroned—
Until that day comes,
Crushed beneath the weight of negligence—
We bear the cost of his ruinous reign.
Ryan Rahman is a writer based in Orlando, Florida. His previous works (all poems) have appeared in Beyond Words Literary Magazine, The Stardust Review, Half and One, BarBar Literary Magazine, and Humans of The World. When he’s not writing, Ryan enjoys reading, listening to music, watching movies, and traveling.
