Ozymandias: A Poem for Today’s Leaders

The wonderful Professor Emeritus Gregory Dowling of Ca’ Foscari – University of Venice suggested this Shelley poem….to deal with the shenanigans of recent days…..

Ozymandias

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.”

Shelley, Ozymandias (1818)

A thought provoking and perfect poem for today’s shallow and tawdry leaders….

Thank you Gregory for putting this eloquent and perfect sonnet on Facebook.

June 2025

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