Ozymadias and "Ponder..."

Both poems attempt to reconcile the idea of "carpe diem" but Shelley does so in a more sophisticated and universal manner than Cummings does. For instance, Shelley speaks of a once colossal statue that stood over the entire desert. And how time had slowly decayed such a mighty entity into mere rubble in the desert, a mere shadow of its past greatness. Further, Shelley reflects on how so much passion and truth can be put into something at any given moment but like all things in life, time will slowly but surely reduce it to nothing. In contrast, Cummings made light of this seemingly daunting revelation, as he mocked and used time for his own personal gain. Though this gain is simply sexual, his reason for acting in the present stems from time's consistent motion and it's decaying of all. Thus the underlying theme of these two poems is indeed "Carpe Diem".