I think there's some question about exactly which statue inspired Shelley (who was working from secondhand descriptions anyway), but I have seen one of the candidates and I am sorry to report that they are actually "two vast and toeless feet of stone".
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!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
By Percy Bysshe Shelley
((where's my non-artificial unintelligent cookie?))
nailed it!
Though, dig this, there are *two* Ozymandias poems.
Shelley wrote his version in a competition with his friend Horace Smith. And as much as I love Shelley's poem, Smith's might be even better!
I wrote a blog post on it which I cannot now but share (gift link(: https://clivethompson.medium.com/the-b-side-of-ozymandias-6651dee01c08?sk=7f78cb459f021e43a9dae4a16e017194
Smith's final sestet makes me think of singer-songwriter Joseph Porter's song "To Whose Gods?":
"And when the time capsule opens on our age
Will a future generation stand bewildered and amazed
Among the brick stacks, cooling towers and masonry remains
And ask to whose Gods were these cathedrals raised?"
oh damn YES
Wow, I had no idea, Clive! And think you're right - it's at least as good. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you dug it! It was news to me also ...
I think there's some question about exactly which statue inspired Shelley (who was working from secondhand descriptions anyway), but I have seen one of the candidates and I am sorry to report that they are actually "two vast and toeless feet of stone".
I won't be surprised if Lord Dampnut orders statues of himself to be erected everywhere.
They will have to be heavily guarded in order to avoid desecration and/or destruction, though.
So will his tomb, for that matter.....
The lyrics to Squirt by Fluke? (second line relevant)
Weighting over ten feet tall
Feet of clay, head of gold
Middle made of cannon balls
Rumour has is swallowed whole
Mineral, without a soul
That's the story being told
The estimated, undefeted
Champeen of the world
Big yet unfamiliar
Think bigger than the biggest bar
Think big, that's only half as large
Bigger, better, twice as hard
Outsized, extra large
Velocity very fast
Bigger than the closest star
Bigger than the motor car
Quick, quiet, confident
Comfortable, permanent
Undisputed every tense
Not a trace of what went left
More equal than the best
Unparalleled success
Everybody
V.impressed
Moving Up on Second Base
With Nicholas Van what's His Face
At six foot six
And 100 Tons
The undisputed King of the Slums
With more alias' than Klaus Barbie
Master Butcher of Leigh on Sea
Just about to take the stage
The one and only - hold the front page
Fatman's got something to sell
To the Capital's homeless
A Crossroad's Motel
For the No Fixed Abodeless
Where you can live life in style
If you sleep in a closet
And if you flash him a smile
He'll take your teeth as deposit
There's bats in the belfrey
The windows are jammed
The toilet's ain't healthy
He don't give a damn
Just chuckles and smiles
Laughs like a madman
A born again Rachman
Here comes Sherrif Fatman