Of Dust And Nations Lyrics

Lyric discussion by towhatend 

Cover art for Of Dust And Nations lyrics by Thrice

this poem reminds me a lot of "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley..

I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read, Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed, And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look upon 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.

hmm...i like the imagery but i don't understand it well. help?

"Ozymandias" is a poem about foolish pride, the illusion of permanence, and the insignificance of man compared to the forces of the universe.

The key phrase in the poem is the pedestal's inscription: "Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" It uses a double meaning to convey the "moral" of the poem. The original intended meaning is to strike fear into other powerful rivals - it's implied that the statue stood in the center of a great city, grand enough to intimidate any rivals that would see it. But now that the statue is...