CAVERNS

Aisles and abysses; leagues no man explores,

Of rock that labyrinths and night that drips;

Where everlasting silence broods, with lips

Of adamant, o'er earthquake-builded floors.

Where forms, such as the Demon-World adores,

Laborious water carves; whence echo slips

Wild-tongued o'er pools where petrifaction strips

Her breasts of crystal from which crystal pours.—

Here where primordial fear, the Gorgon, sits

Staring all life to stone in ghastly mirth,

I seem to tread, with awe no tongue can tell,—

Beneath vast domes, by torrent-tortured pits,

‘ Mid wrecks terrific of the ruined Earth,—

An ancient causeway of forgotten Hell.