 | Mansoul or The Riddle of the World |  |
Headlong then breathless fugitives, we contended,
To outgo that fearful peril, in night-murk;
And stumbling oft, beyond, above, all paths:
Downward, aye downward, towards the mountains foot.
To outgo that fearful peril, in night-murk;
And stumbling oft, beyond, above, all paths:
Downward, aye downward, towards the mountains foot.
Hour-long we strove thus: detonations dread
Amazed our ears: corroding sulphurous fume
Us overtook; and seemed púrsue our steps.
When first, nigh spent, we durst pause tó draw breath;
We had gained a downward mile; and gazing back,
A league-wide horror and fury of flame and smoke;
Saw, issuing from vast Ætnas burning crest.
Amazed our ears: corroding sulphurous fume
Us overtook; and seemed púrsue our steps.
When first, nigh spent, we durst pause tó draw breath;
We had gained a downward mile; and gazing back,
214
Saw, issuing from vast Ætnas burning crest.
Might mortal eye it survey from on height:
Should not that old-heaped, cliff-bound fearful Gulf;
Seem a fiery boiling caldron, lava-lake:
With heaving film, of molten iron dross;
Risen from infernal bowels of Mother Earth;
Through two-miles' stature of the hollow mount.
Should not that old-heaped, cliff-bound fearful Gulf;
Seem a fiery boiling caldron, lava-lake:
With heaving film, of molten iron dross;
Risen from infernal bowels of Mother Earth;
Through two-miles' stature of the hollow mount.
New thundrous immense din, is in our ears;
Of that rent films shards, launcht in the element:
With startling blasts, as were they cannon-shots.
Of that rent films shards, launcht in the element:
With startling blasts, as were they cannon-shots.
| Mansoul or The Riddle of the World | |