“Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair.” — Percy Bysshe Shelley
Many of you who walked through the halls at Dear Old Cathedral will probably recognize the line I used for today’s quote. It comes from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Ozymandias. A poem about a traveler who comes upon a ruined statue in the middle of a desert. What was once a monument to a king’s greatness now lies in pieces, sand drifting through the cracks of time. The inscription boasts of power, of a man who thought his empire would never fade, but all that remains is silence and stone.
Shelley wrote Ozymandias as a reminder that no matter how grand our achievements or how grandiose our name may become, time will eventually level it all. The careers we build, the titles we earn, the collections we gsthered will all fade into dust. What outlives us isn’t our “works,” but the moments we shared and the people we lifted along the way. Humility, not pride, is what endures in memory.
As we head into the last week of October, take a moment to look around at what really matters. A week from today the clocks fall back, and we will start the wintering process…
…shorter days, longer nights, and that slow cold fade into another season.
Let’s use this week to soak up what is left of the light.
Sit outside a little longer.
Watch the leaves hold on just a day more.
Let the sunshine stretch across your afternoon, because soon enough, we will be looking on our own works and thinking if we used our time well.
Go put a smile on the sun today you Chalkheads.
