I actually taught this one to a class of advanced English as a Second Language students in Ukraine one summer, it was a pretty big hit. I like how it's both funny and somewhat sobering, the rhymed couplets leading you to think it's pretty lightweight until the sucker-punch at the end. Once again — form and function, folks.
On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness
Arthur Guiterman
The tusks which clashed in mighty brawls
Of mastodons, are billiard balls.
The sword of Charlemagne the Just
Is Ferric Oxide, known as rust.
The grizzly bear, whose potent hug,
Was feared by all, is now a rug.
Great Caesar's bust is on the shelf,
And I don't feel so well myself.
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