In The Depths Of Darkness

 

Behind the bars, in the domain, of the dark and damp

You might see, the ethereal glow, of the miner's lamp

But in the listless umbra, there'll be no shadows cast

For those who are there, are phantoms from the past

Some others, crawled through a hole, to wander round

Under the sinkholes, in the warren, beneath the ground

In the crumbling tunnels, they left their marks, in white

As they scribed, their cartography, by their torch's light

Oft, in eerie silence, they traipsed and had time to mull

And ponder on their peril, with each dead sheep's skull

Though they knew the ways, with their homemade map

The oppressive, cloistered darkness, would always sap

Through the months and years, they still chose to dare

Each time they crawled out, they would bless, fresh air

But then the end, was nigh and their map was finished

So they went in, one last time, but the light diminished

In the depths of darkness, vexed by an opaque malaise

Did they stumble through tunnels, that became a maze?

Perhaps they saw a familiar glow, atop of a rocky ramp

They thought was sunlight, but it was the miner's lamp

Behind the bars, where eroded, fractured roofs cave in

You might hear a forlorn, distant call, from deep within

But without torch, or lamp, there'll be no shadows cast

For those who still wander there, they're of the passed