ozymandias tattoo

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 shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d 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.

- Excerpt from Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

This tattoo was submitted by Stella Coombe from Cardiff, Wales, UK.

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This post has 3 comments. Add your own.
karen - 18 Apr 09 at 14:32:48

That is beautiful. The simplicity of the font, the placement, the phrase (which I love). Great choice!

nilla - 07 Jan 10 at 05:53:23

one of my favorite poems =)

LiAna - 11 May 11 at 17:09:04

I recited this poem for a Poetry Out Loud competition, and I will always remember how I delivered these very same lines.
This is the climax of the poem, and it is truly profound!