With apologies to Percy Bysshe Shelley, and also to Richard W. Sears.

Sears & Roebuck

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: A vast and styleless shaft of glass
Stands in Chicago. Behold, close at hand,
Obscure, a tattered catalog, whose mass,
And wrinkled spine, and boastful-colored brand
Tell that its authors well the market read
Which yet appears, shown in this printed hoard,
For everything from power tools to sheds.

And on the cover these bold words appear:
"My name is Sears & Roebuck, store of stores;
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The retail landscape stretches far away.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Poignant. Telling. And above all, very, very true.

There was a time, years ago, when if you'd told anyone Sears would collapse you'd have been laughed at.

As Exalted pointed out years ago, there's always an ending.

------
Fearless creatures, we all learn to fight the Reaper
Can't defeat Her, so instead I'll have to be Her

That is a perfect usage of the original poem to reflect on the loss of an American icon.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

Sic transit gloria venditor.