I MET a Traveler from an antique land,
Who said, "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is OZYMANDIAS, King of Kings."
Look on my works ye Mighty, and despair!
No thing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that Colossal Wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Ozymandias Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shelly was a self-absorbed, head-in-the-clouds, selfish, unfaithful prat who didn't deserve Mary (the superior artist), but damn I love this poem!
Who said, "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is OZYMANDIAS, King of Kings."
Look on my works ye Mighty, and despair!
No thing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that Colossal Wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Ozymandias Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shelly was a self-absorbed, head-in-the-clouds, selfish, unfaithful prat who didn't deserve Mary (the superior artist), but damn I love this poem!
VIEW 10 of 10 COMMENTS
ophelia:
I have a hard time liking any Shelley. Unfortunately, for years before I studied his work in university I lived in a town with this fountain dedicated to him. It's so very ugly, and I'd have to stare at it day in and day out when I was at work.
lotus:
