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.