SOLE Lord of Lords and very King of Kings, He sits within the desert, carved in stone; Inscrutable, colossal, and alone, And ancienter than memory of things. Graved on his front the sacred beetle clings; Disdain sits on his lips; and in a frown Scorn lives upon his forehead for a crown. The affrighted ostrich dare not dust here wings Anear this Presence. The long caravan's Dazed camels stop, and mute the Bedouins stare. This symbol of past power more than man's Presages doom. Kings look -- and Kings despair: Their sceptres tremble in their jewelled hands, And dark thrones totter in the baleful air! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BOOK OF STONES AND LILIES by AMY LOWELL BEFORE A STATUE OF ACHILLES by GEORGE SANTAYANA DARKNESS by GEORGE GORDON BYRON UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 8. TO MINNIE (WITH A HAND-GLASS) by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 50. AL-BAHITH by EDWIN ARNOLD |