Poem: "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley Read By: Tom O'Bedlam Producer: Josh M Quigley (Mr Hexadus) (CC by 4.0)
CC BY 4.0" is a public domain license which permits most forms of use or re-use of a licensed work provided that acknowledgement is made of the original Author
Story behind the song
The poem portrays the arrogance of rulers who believe their legacy will last forever, only to be humbled by time and nature.
Lyrics
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.
