I met a traveller from an antique land...

[Dave Starsky]

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! 
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay 
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare 
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

--Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818)

This, too, shall pass. The bigglier they are...

[CanonRay]

1. One of my all time favorites.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

2. Trump may yet bring us to a different ending of the same theme

Horace Smith's take on the discovery of the toppled statue. What powerful but unrecorded race, once dwelt in that annihilated place.

In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
The only shadow that the Desert knows:—
"I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,
"The King of Kings; this mighty City shows
"The wonders of my hand."— The City's gone,—
Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose
The site of this forgotten Babylon.

We wonder,—and some Hunter may express
Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness
Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace,
He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess
What powerful but unrecorded race
Once dwelt in that annihilated place.--Horace Smith (1818)

[Dave Starsky]

5. I have never seen that.

I did some Googling. Apparently, he and Shelley were friends who wrote poems at the same time and on the same subject.

Wow. My mind is blown.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

9. Kind of like Starsky & Hutch!

except with poetry.

[Dave Starsky]

10. Two eleven in progress, Fourth and San Pedro.

Zebra three responding.

It is all poetry!

[DFW]

3. If Ozymandias were to be read before a joint session of Congress

The Democratic side would be nodding their heads knowingly.
The Republican side would be shaking their heads and asking, "what the hell was THAT all about?"

[charlyvi]

4. Ozywho? lol

[DFW]

7. Republican answer:

"They must mean Ozy 'n' Harriet--dumb libs can't even get her name right"

[Dave Starsky]

6. Yeah, you're right.

And this is why history repeats itself over and over and over again.

[malaise]

8. How appropriate

Rec