The Joshua Tree - Ozymandias of Egypt

Ozymandias of Egypt

 (Delusion of Grandeur) 

Written and posted by Jean-Louis Mondon. 2/2011

To read the first chapter, click Here

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 old command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings.
Look on 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.


Percy Bysshe Shelley
1792-1822

Well then, my friend, did you sigh
 last night while falling asleep:

Or are you feeling like this king

Master of his domain

Following his own whim?

What drives you and leads you?

Your castle made of cards

So patiently constructed

Can in a single night

Become an abandoned ruin,

A no man’s land where children

Laugh and play without worrying

About why and how

Such an accomplishment

Such a beautiful edifice

With a proud and tall stairway

Is left to lie, forgotten

In the great hour glass,

The hallway of memories

Lost forever

In the labyrinth of the past.

For whoever wants to save their life (or soul) will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul. Matthew 16:25, 26.

Come with me if you want, if today you have lost the hope of finding the key of the exit door that leads to life. Jesus said: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Foreword

One day, in blind ignorance,

a man stumbles over a stone,

the first step of a stairway

that leads to the most high place.

In his haste, without pause,

at the cross road between light and darkness

Pride opens his mouth and mocks the stepping stone

calling it a stumbling block.

Then, further deceived by his lack of understanding

he turns around indignant and walks away

from the Rock that Love placed there

to help him on his journey.

So tonight don’t forget to sigh. It’s as natural as crying or laughing. It is the others who do not like to hear the complaints of our souls. You have to understand them. They do not know how to take them. A sigh as soon as it is released flies off upward. But somebody is listening and hears you. If you persist, he will answer.

So long and take care. I hope to meet you at the desert gate.
To be continued.

To read the next chapter, click: Here
http://thelightseed.blogspot.com/2011/02/joshua-tree-desert-parable_1896.html

Jean-Louis.