Stupendous Leg

Most literate persons are aware of Shelley's poem, 'Ozymandias', a staple of English Literature; how many have ever heard of Shelley's friend W Horace Smith, and his sonnet, 'On a stupendous leg'? I just discovered it; here it is:

On a Stupendous Leg of Granite

In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
The only shadow that the Desart 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.


Good stuff, eh?

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