Nice poem indeed...but I am clueless on what exactly it means.

@KiNg: It's a Romantic poem. I am, of course, referring to the Romantic time period, and not what most people would think of Romance.

It's comparing modern society to the Roman empire. They fell, I mentioned that Germany fell, now it's our (America's, U.N.'s, etc.) turn.
I got the motivation from a dream I had that while I was standing in a Roman palace there were so many tourists there that it upset me.

I woke from the dream sobbing, with my pillow drenched in tears. It literally pains me to think that the ignorant masses are out there thinking that life is guaranteed to them. And I was surprised at the irony that the entire world may crumble tomorrow, but they will still tour the once great city of Rome just as if it was only meant to be an attraction.

And, since history repeats itself, all that is good in the world is bound to come to a crash at some point, and it is the human condition for things to carry on in the same manner. I likened the fall of Rome to the inevitable fall of all nations, and I truly hope that it will at least make some people stop and think.

Great poem! :)

Now that I understand I must say it is a top-class poem.

Why thank you, both of you!

cool your jets you Ozymandias lover you

Ozymandias was a fool. He let his kingdom collapse when they were on the verge of domination! (Is there any back story to that poem, or is it just ramblings about the power of nature?)
So goes the sayings of my 9th grade English teacher: "Romanticism is like Romance...It has to be ugly to be really good."

Never mind, I just remembered that that was one of the names for Ramses the Great.

^well said KA, look at Les Miserables, non of those characters could catch a break, well not until the end, but I won't spoil it for those that never read it :p

Also: Updated:

Here, the ruins stand tall and proud.
Here, are gathered naught but the crowds.
A single tear was all I could gather
As the young child asked why it even matters.
"It would be too simple if I could just tell you,
"I wish only that I truly knew."
But sad is the day when not a soul knows,
What life was like here before their doors closed.
They had their glory, they had their fall.
Others are known for their towers or walls.
"But I am not the guilty one," I said to myself.
"But aren't we all going straight into hell?"
Thus saith the Pope, the king of this land,
But even his power is out of his hands.
Here is a city that once stood strong.
Here is the capital of too many wrongs.
These statues hold their Legacy.
These great ruins deserve our Pity.
For if such a grand nation once stood here,
What are these trifles that we hold so dear?
I stand at this statue and see a man's life.
Here is the great man who fell to a knife.
I stand in this nation that fell the same way.
Here are the Romans who lasted but a day.
Yesterday was the day of Berlin.
Today nonetheless is the day we live in.
So I stand at this statue and see not what's gone,
Merely our fate; what is yet to come along.
Peace or war, Civilization stands,
Until it falls into the sinking sands.
And I stand at this statue, looking for hope,
Looking as the people come and go.
But I stand at this statue and cry tears of joy,
For we are all Romans, even that boy.

@Shep: quality

Nice work, captures the fleetingness of power really well. It's sort of sad and doomsdaythinkingy so not my personal cup of tea.
I was wondering about this though: "I got the motivation from a dream I had that while I was standing in a Roman palace there were so many tourists there that it upset me." What part of that upset you exactly?

Was it the realisation that someday hordes of tourists might swarm the future ruins of America? Or that so many great of the past civilations fell? Or that quarreling about trifle matters (as in the poem) is so useless in the grand scheme of things? Or someting completely different?

Probably the lack of preservation, sqrg

Well I'm quite sure only King Atom could anwer that KiNg Of DiPlOmAcY. Unless you're multi's of course! :P

sqrg, it's all of those...and it's none of those.

(But in reality, I was leaning more towards your first point.)

It was my first point precisely because i got that feeling from your poem. Does that mean the poem 'works'? :p

I personally feel that these transitions are great. It's the reason I have beautiful ruins to look at, lessons to learn from the past and why I'm not a Roman citizen (or slave). But I can still feel the ways in wich i AM Roman.

In fact many great social changes only took place because of empires collapsing. Just like we think some of them we're great we can see their many flaws from our viewpoint in the future. I'm quite sure that civilisations a 1000 years from now will think the same way about us and our modern society. Hopefully things like unbridled capitalism or wealth inequality or hard labor or people dying from hunger, thirst and bullets etc etc
For we are not there yet. Still we are all Romans, even that boy.

Oops, second sentence: 'of them we're great' should be 'of them were great'

" It was my first point precisely because i got that feeling from your poem. Does that mean the poem 'works'? :p"

Nah, go read 'My Papa's Waltz.' You're first interpretation will probably be a wrong one, but that's just how art is sometimes.