Here are two poems about Pharaoh Ramesses II (also known as Ozymandias) and this is the mummy of Ramesses himself: First the version by Percy Shelley: 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." And second Horace Smith's version, written at the same time in competition: In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone, Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws The only shadow that the Desert 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.
If it is a competition then Percy Shelley wins by a country mile. Any particular reason for posting ?
I always thought Percy Bisque Shelley was some sort of fish soup......... ....until someone pointed out his name was Bysshe.
I rather like Horace's prescient line "... the wilderness where London stood ..." which reminds me of the ending of the film Planet of the Apes. I also have always liked the sculpture portraying the drowned body of Shelley as it was washed ashore on an Italian beach: In 1968-9 my college room was right next to the sculpture. Shelley's line "... sneer of cold command ..." was a guess - Ramesses' mummy was not found until years later, and didn't the description turn out to be a perceptive one?
This help Pete? "The moon shone on the village green.......... .......was she fetching water? .....was she bloody hell...........etc etc" Or, "The boy stood on the burning deck..........Twit"..............Thanks, Spike..... Or " As I was walking along one day..... ....I saw a house on fire...... ...there was a man shouting and screaming....... ......Jump, you bugger jump..... .......into this blanket what we are holding...... ........there was no blanket........ Thanks, Pete and Dud (or Derek and Clive) Or, "There was a young man who's dick was exceedingly bent........ ....so instead of coming; he went......."
Show me a home where the buffalo roam... and I'll show you a house with a very smelly carpet Bill Oddy
Oi, don't despair life and death is every where. have nice thoughts at the end no longer can i drive you round the bend. its no sore and not painful and yer relies will be grateful. :smileys:
Too true. C'mon Loz & Et, what kind of biker thread is this? In fact, fuck it. I'm going to join the Benelli forum. I hear they're big on iambic pentameter. And so I leave this dreadful rhymeless place.
The lightning flashed, the thunder roared and all the earth was shaken. The little pig curled up his tail and ran to save his bacon... Anon
From memory: There are holes in the sky where the rain gets in. The holes are small, so the rain is thin. Spike Milligan
Is this a hint that we ought to revive the Haiku thread, @Umbra ? http://ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/haiku.3907/
I can't find his stuff now but Teddy Ashlon - Lancashire Poet. From Memory This is a sad a tale As any man could tell Sam Flixton had a nagging wife And went to drown is sel'
