Walking along the line 'twixt sea and land <br />I saw a bottle, half hidden by a stone <br />and buried to the neck in the wet sand. <br />I picked it up, then, with a puzzled frown, <br />unstoppered it and, as by mute command <br />deciphering the note inside, I read: <br />“The one who finds this will receive all things <br />his heart desires, his appetites be fed.” <br /> <br />But is this promise what it may appear? <br />I asked myself. For commoners and kings <br />alike may find all hope turn to despair; <br />they all will die; their bodies will decay. <br />The promise, then, was meaningless and bare. <br />Grasping the bottle, I hurled it far away. <br />- <br /> <br />Note: the last words of each line are the last words of the lines of Shelley's Ozymandias, with which I would not venture to compare it. <br /> <br />For other versions of this exercise by other members, see - <br />www.poemhunter.com/poem/percy-s-words-at-war/ <br />www.poemhunter.com/poem/each-gleaming-thread/ <br />www.poemhunter.com/poem/challenge-12/ <br />If anyone else would like to try, please feel free, but I'd be glad if you'd let me know.<br /><br />Paul Hansford<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/not-ozymandias/
