In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
The only shadow that the Desart 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.
Though I care little for the octave, in my humble opinion, the sestet of Horace Smith's Ozymandias compliments Shelley's poem of the same name beautifully. I encourage the reading, or learning, of both. If one is unsure of the meaning of Percy's sonnet, the second half of this, I believe, illuminates all. Very poignant and so prophetic.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
the sonnet contains the word Wonder three times, which I find odd & probably contrived; what do you say?
I like the word Wonder. I think YOU are odd neil.