Sic Transit Gloria Mundi Poem by Barry Middleton

quickly life is done
death comes to all
what crown was won
will then be set aside
the page is turned
the plaques are hung
the laurel wreath
laid upon the grave

the glory of life is brief
a man need have his say
not least of all the poet
whose meager dusty verse
will soon be forgotten

or discovered hence
in an attic storehouse
where reading these
‘tis known what I know
that he was just a man

but if you wish for more
delusions of immortality
then seek the mountain
at midnight and gaze
at Ozymandias in stars
know each one is leased
not one doth own itself
and all the debt is called
the stars to dust again
and crowns and plaques
and intimations of poetry