"Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe 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".
--Percy Shelley


There is a fountain on the Potomac in Alexandria where it looks like a statue has falled to pieces - a large eye here, a mouth there, a broken bit of spear. At the foot of the fountain stands a obelisk, which marks it all as a desert tribute. Is it supposed to be Ozymandias? Maybe. I always think of this poem.

I need to memorize it, so I can recite it on the spot when I take people there. I can usually only manage the quote in the middle.