I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to think of the author and title of a poem. It’s about a man who comes across a ruined city and finds a weathered stone tablet with an inscription that states something to the effect “I am So and So, behold my glory. My fame will live on for eternity.” It’s about the transience of civilizations and the egotism of their rulers. Well, I know this is a skeleton description. My memories are rather vague. But if someone could help out, I’d be grateful.
Ozymandius by Shelley?
It’s almost certainly “Ozymandias”. I’ve always loved the phrases “a traveler to an antique land”, and “look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
A good article in Wikipedia. Ozymandias - Wikipedia
It explains the meaning of the line “The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed” which always puzzled me.
Plus it gives an interesting story of how the poem came to be written, with an alternative version that you may not have seen before.