Poems of Madison Cawein Vol. 3 — Caverns

_Written of Colossal Cave, Kentucky.

_ 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 Dæmon-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.

A VOICE ON THE WIND