Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Mitchelstown Caverns (Author: Gerald Griffin)
p.134
- Grimly it frown'd when first with shuddering mind
We saw the farfamed Cavern's darkling womb,
And for that vault of silence and of gloom
Left the fair day and smiling world behind.
But what bright wonder hail'd our eyes ere long!
The chrystal wellthe sparry curtaines dome
The sparkling shafts that propp'd that cavern'd home,
And vaults that turn'd the homeliest sounds to song.
Oh, this, I thought, is sure a symbol plain
Of that undreaded death, the holy die,
Stern at the first and withering to the view;
But past that gate of darkness and of pain,
What scenes of unimagined rapture lie
Rich with elysian wealth and splendour ever new.