(A Pharaoh Speaks.) <br /> <br />I said, "Why should a pyramid <br />Stand always dully on its base? <br />I'll change it! Let the top be hid, <br />The bottom take the apex-place!" <br />And as I bade they did. <br /> <br />The people flocked in, scores on scores, <br />To see it balance on its tip. <br />They praised me with the praise that bores, <br />My godlike mind on every lip. <br />-- Until it fell, of course. <br /> <br />And then they took my body out <br />From my crushed palace, mad with rage, <br />-- Well, half the town WAS wrecked, no doubt -- <br />Their crazy anger to assuage <br />By dragging it about. <br /> <br />The end? Foul birds defile my skull. <br />The new king's praises fill the land. <br />He clings to precept, simple, dull; <br />HIS pyramids on bases stand. <br />But -- Lord, how usual!<br /><br />Stephen Vincent Benet<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-innovator/
