A sea-cliff carved into a bas-relief Dark thoughts and sad, conceiv'd by brooding Nature Brought forth in storm:-dread shapes of Titan stature, Emblems of Fate, and Change, Revenge, and Grief, And Death, and Life;-a caverned Hieroglyph Confronting still with thunder-blasted frieze All stress of years, and Minds, and wasting seas: The stranger nears it in his fragile skiff And hides his eyes. Few, few shall pass, great Bard, Thy dim sea-portals I Entering, fewer yet Shall pierce thy mystic meanings, deep and hard But these shall owe to thee an endless debt The Eleusinian caverns they shall tread That wind beneath man's heart; and wisdom learn with dread. |