Kentucky poems / Madison Cawein; with an introd. by Edmund Gosse [electronic text]

CAVERNS

WRITTEN OF COLOSSAL CAVE, KENTUCKY

AISLES and abysses; leagues no man explores, Of rock that labyrinths and night that drips;Line 1 Where everlasting silence broods, with lipsLine 1 Of adamant, o'er earthquake-builded floors. Where forms, such as the Demon-World adores, Laborious water carves; whence echo slipsLine 1 Wild-tongued o'er pools where petrifaction stripsLine 1 Her breasts of crystal from which crystal pours.— Here where primordial fear, the Gorgon, sits Staring all life to stone in ghastly mirth, Line 1

Line 1 I seem to tread, with awe no tongue can tell,—Line 1 Beneath vast domes, by torrent-tortured pits, 'Mid wrecks terrific of the ruined Earth,—Line 1 An ancient causeway of forgotten Hell.Line 1