Beyond that lifeless plain, two rivers run
From Taurus’ slopes down to the Persian sea.
There Nineveh, Palmyra, Babylon and Ur
Rose fabulously over fertile fields.
Assyrian kings demanding fealty
From lesser lords and merchants, troops and slaves,
Could scarce enjoy their moment in the sun
Before superior hordes shattered their shields.
So empires fall yet autocrats recur,
Successive dynasties appear like waves
That hurl against the cliffs in angry spray,
And each in turn assert their haughty sway
Until they too –” “Excuse me, I insist,
Enough of this! I think we’ve got your gist”.

I noticed that as originally published, the quotation in ‘Ozymandias’ was not closed. I investigated and discovered that there was a missing second verse, a second sonnet also with an idiosyncratic rhyme scheme.