Friday, February 11, 2011

Mubearak Leaves


When history breaks its banks and cuts new courses right before your eyes, it seems only appropriate to go with something timeless from one of the "unacknowledged legislators of the world."

Ozymandias

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveler 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.

3 comments:

darkblack said...

Ahem...

'It's time to pack the steamers
It's time to catch a flight
It's time to bug the f*ck out
of this falafel stand, alright'


;>)

tanbark said...

HELL of a poem by Shelley.

Pretty shitty dictator...that we helped squat on the Egyptian people for 30 years.

OTOH, it WAS black-humor funny, watching Barack Obama bounce around like a front-running yo-yo from day-to-day, on whether, and when, he should go or not.

And lest we get too caught up in the frabjous daying, it's well to keep in mind that in Cairo, General Tatawi is known as "Mubarak's poodle".

Cletis said...

I've always loved this poem. Do you know Van Morrison's, "Rough God Goes Riding"?

I deeply admire your prose. Cletis from Ky.