"The lone and level sands stretch far away."

Hello readers! I just wanted to offer an apology that I have not posted in over a week. The California State Fair is running right now and I have the opportunity of working there this year at a booth. So a state-wide and magnificent fair has left me busy busy busy.

This post I would like to offer my thoughts and share "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792). This topic and theme of ambition to self-destruction has been on my mind a lot lately and has intrigued me about human nature. It has also lead me to create my own poem running on this same theme. In this post I will offer both. "Ozymandias" is a very short, one stanza poem that speaks a tale of Ramesses the Great, who was Pharaoh of the nineteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt. Ramesses was a celebrated Pharaoh which lead many great battles and established peace and prosperity in his land. He created this great legacy and a great kingdom, which he left upon death. Well, as we studiers know the history and state of Egypt even to this day, everything that Ramesses (or Ozymandias for the purposes of this poem) worked for has been left to ruins. His ambitions are shattered and are lost. His kingdom is left desolate and buried in the Egyptian sand, as the poem gives account. Which is what inspired Shelley to write his interesting poem in a romantic-state England.

I think this idea of Ozymandias and destruction of his kingdom offers us as readers something interesting to think about. Think of all the great leaders in history and what they built and what are they now but legacies and stories? We can speculate about perhaps the things in our lives that we build (relationships, careers, families) and in an instant, those things can be destroyed and left desolate through natural life factors or self-imposing actions. In Ozymandias's case, the natural factor of death left his kingdom barren and easy to be mocked by life events. In our lives, how have our personal kingdoms been destroyed and can they be built again?

What an interesting topic and factor of life this is! It makes me wonder if my own life and kingdom I build will last forever and leave an imprint on the times. It makes me wonder if the family I create in this life will continue on the path and morals I have created and hopefully improve and strengthen that path. It makes me wonder if in my career, my teaching will influence my students and affect generations upon generations of learners and inquirers. My personal kingdom is being built currently, and hopefully by the time I am old, the foundation of my kingdom is indestructible and eternal, my monument a grand and forever imprint in desert sands.

Below I've posted "Ozymandias" by Shelley and "The Sandcastle" by myself. As you read, reflect on the words and find the connection in your own life.

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.'


The Sandcastle, by Melanie K. Walker
Seagulls sing softly in the easy breeze.
The sun peaks behind the clouds with subtle tease.
Back and forth roams the foam of the sea
Creeping closer, closer to the mastery made by me.

Careful stands this construction,
Strong and invincible to any destruction.
Trimmed, molded in gold this refinery,
Beautiful, timeless is the mastery made by me.

Innumerable are the grains of this sand.
So I was selective with what I had planned.
Each memory promised an infinity, it seemed,
And so was built the mastery made by me.

Alas; the clouds begin to darken and the sky turns to gray.
The salty wind starts to blow the sand astray.
Carnage rides the tide to fulfill a destiny—
To chasm the creation of the mastery made by me.

The ocean’s song fades into night.
Fog rushes in, suffocating any remaining light.
Desolation adores the shores of the sea,
Mocking what once stood a mastery made by me.


Comments welcome.

Photo retrieved from bensten.wordpress.com