The speaker of the poem encounters a traveller from an ancient land.
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
The traveller tells him about a statue that has no body with two broad legs of stone. Half sunk in the sand, there lies a cracked image of a face.
Taking note of the "wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command", the speaker says to tell the sculptor he did a good job at capturing the king's expressions.
There is a pedestal, and on it these words are written:
His kingdom that once was, no longer remains.
Now all that is left of his kingdom is nothing but sand.