Exegi Monumentum Aere Perennius
“I have erected a monument more lasting than bronze.” – Horace
Zigzag-y monuments are perennially
Momentary, set against the sky,
Like Ozymandias who gazes sentinel-ly
And leaves us nothing but the wry
That Robert Burns is coming through:
“Need the world ken” why?
Sardonic with a lilting quaver.
Thermae crumble; thermals skew
The old words’ stony tilt and savor;
Buzzards circle in the blue,
And erechtheums waver.
Ozymandias – A sonnet by English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792‑1822) about the ruined monument of an ancient ruler. The last lines are:
“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.
Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) wrote “Coming Through the Rye” in 1782. The third stanza is:
Gin a body meet a body
Comin’ thro’ the glen,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need the warld ken? (Need the world know?)
Thermae – Ancient Roman public baths sometimes housed in elaborate complexes.
Erechtheum – A temple built on the Acropolis in the late 5th century B.C. and dedicated to the deities of Athens.