Caverns - a reading (on YouTube)
Sealed behind steel doors and
Rusty gates with cast-iron locks,
An ancient landscape leeches from the surface
Like some madman’s forgotten dream.
While the ranger regales us with tales
Of the Civilian Conservation Corps,
Shadows conceal the sentinels
Of deeper chthonic creatures.
We wend our way through goblin crawls,
Peering up suspiring chimneys,
Squeezing past primeval breeding dens,
On a path chiseled smooth by many hobnailed feet.
Galleries give way to sacred chambers,
Columns flank a flowstone cathedral,
Moated by descending rimpools,
The blackest mirrors of our souls.
Ribbons of water,
Ribbons of rock,
Ribbons of raw pigment,
Trickle down its twilight walls,
Painted ashen in calcite white,
Burnt iron umber,
Sooty black manganese,
Portents of the dragon’s ire.
Hoarfrost quartz encrusts his vaulted ceiling,
Precious diamonds ripe for tiny fingers,
While pilfering, wingless fairies
Lurk behind each dripstone drapery.
With pickaxes and sharpened shovels,
These mole-eyed miners ambush
His moonless darkness
With two-candlepower lamps.
We are reborn to renewed possibilities
After defeating the black beast within.
Dazzled by the dappled sunlight,
We stumble on beneath a verdant sky.
© 2016 Edward P. Morgan III
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ReplyDeleteNotes and asides:
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The inspiration for this one came from a stop at Florida Caverns State Park on our fall driving trip in 2014. I’d run across it in an article years before and was surprised to learn Florida had (dry) caverns you could tour. They aren’t on the grand scale of better known cave complexes but well worth a visit.
Throughout the ranger describing the working conditions of the Civilian Conservation Corps who hollowed out the chambers in the 1930s (including working by reflected candlelight), all I could think about were goblins and bugbears, and how a similar underground setting must have inspired some ancient storyteller to create their mythology. After all these years, I’m still the weird kid on the tour.
Like too much of my poetry, I feel like this one doesn’t flow so much as you battle and grind your way through the words like an Anglo-Saxon saga. With all the internal alliteration and the reference to the hero cycle at the end, maybe that’s fitting.
It’s really hard to get a clear image in low light conditions. It’s especially hard to get a good picture when there are bright portions of the image and dark portions. Florida Caverns is no exception. There is no place to rest a camera, since you can’t touch any of the formations. Of all the pictures I took, more then half of them are blurry to not quite crisp. This was one of the clear ones. Next time I may bring a tripod.
ReplyDeleteAnother great collaboration! Clearly, you should go on more trips. (And look, I was finally able to comment!)
ReplyDeleteYay for being able to comment! I love the job Karen does with her pictures. She has quite a stash from that trip she hasn't posted yet.
DeleteI'm getting itchy to travel a bit again. Maybe even something involving a passport. We have a number of place on our list. As soon as we both feel ready.
Beautifully expressed. How about visiting us in South Africa? A new yet old world that touches the spirit deeply. Ginger
ReplyDeleteSure. But I'm not sure I can keep up with your adventures or spiritual connections.
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