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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DON JUAN IN HELL by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE A CELEBRATION OF CHARIS: 4. HER TRIUMPH by BEN JONSON PICTURES FROM APPLEDORE: 2 by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 69. AUTUMN IDLENESS by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI ARE THE CHILDREN AT HOME? by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER THE VOICE OF THE RAIN by WALT WHITMAN THE ART OF PRESERVING HEALTH: BOOK 3. EXERCISE by JOHN ARMSTRONG |