I met a traveller from a distant realm 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 Settra, Khermikhara, 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. Yet what a fool this traveling man, To think those kings forsook this land. For though it true that death doth reign, Lack of life impairs no claim upon these endless desert sands where armies fight and kingdoms span And the eons of a lesser life Amount to nothing more than strife. For lightning god and three eyed king, ‘Undying lord and bestial thing All have tried to stake their due, And make those serve who only rule Yet here I must make end my tale of the kings of old who still prevail Amongst the ancient ruins old. Beware, turn back, ‘you have been tol - Inscription upon the obelisk of Desert’s End