Friday, August 7, 2020

Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek, Syria, circa 1870.


I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. 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!'



3 comments:

  1. Wonder if the muslims have destroyed it by now?

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  2. Oh wow, one of my very favorite of poems. So apropos then, as today!

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  3. Hate to display my ignorance, but I have never read that little ditty and had to look up the author.

    Nemo

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