| 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.”
– Percy Bysshe Shelley |
Silent Sentinels
On her way from times far-away
I met this nomadic nymph the other day
To her I had this to say
“Towering trees, so grand, so old,
Stand by the highway, upright bold;
Their sheer presence, their majesty
While fills one’s heart with awe, with beauty,
Show that mother nature with care did nurture
This treasure she gifted, that we view with rapture,
As I gazed on these silent giants
These onlookers of so many pasts,
In my mind, I recalled these words
‘To be like these, straight, true and fine
To make our world like theirs a shrine’”
– Vidya Tiru/LadyInRead
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Nice inversion – celebration of the nurturing power of the feminine – ultimately stronger.
thank you Sarah! and so glad you saw that reference and the power of the feminine.. 🙂
I like the comparison of those trees to the statue of Ozymandias. The trees still stand.
thank you Frank…for some reason, the trees were the first response thought in my mind once I had decided (almost instantly ) on Ozymandias
VISION
The trees, majestic, take no part,
though they are cruel to some.
They stand as pieces made of art
beware of time to come.
A vision made besides the trees
is poor, majestic not.
If vision is not this one sees.
Then life is what is got.
Bravo for choosing Shelley! (He’s a personal favorite of mine.) You maintained his voice in your marvelous response poem and I love your narrative style – it’s is gentle and beautiful!
thank you Jill .. I did try to respond to his lines in his voice as much as I could..
I believe there is an “s” to many in that poem. Obviously, the river wanted to play along. 😊
🙂
Great to see how you have captured the sense of the woods…
thank you Bjorn…
Wonderful response!
thank you Bekkie..loved this prompt
A beautiful poem of response and environmental sensitivity. It would be wonderful if we all took you poem to heart and made our world a shrine instead of at wreck!
Dwigth
thank you Dwight… yes, totally agree…
I like this tribute to giants who still stand.
thank you Janice.. they are awe-inspiring, each and every time I see them