(A Pharaoh Speaks) I said, "Why should a pyramid Stand always dully on its base? I'll change it! Let the top be hid, The bottom take the apex-place!" And as I bade they did. The people flocked in, scores on scores, To see it balance on its tip. They praised me with the praise that bores, My godlike mind on every lip. -- Until it fell, of course. And then they took my body out From my crushed palace, mad with rage, -- Well, half the town WAS wrecked, no doubt -- Their crazy anger to assuage By dragging it about. The end? Foul birds defile my skull. The new king's praises fill the land. He clings to precept, simple, dull; HIS pyramids on bases stand. But -- Lord, how usual! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF JOHN KEATS' DEATH by SARA TEASDALE EARTH'S ANSWER, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE THE SPIDER AND THE FLY by MARY HOWITT THE MARTYRS OF THE MAINE by RUPERT HUGHES THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 24 by OMAR KHAYYAM THE LAND OF COUNTERPANE by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON |