Descent

Descent

The questions drive us underground
The answers lead us there
Where mysteries are lost and found
In caverns’ dark dank air
The tunnels here twist and turn
Labyrinths, they spiral down
With too many canaries burnt
And fewer secrets found
Amidst the brightest lustrous veins
Running through the rock
Formations ancient, times unchanged
Behind the minerals, locked
Each stratum formed at points of change
Of pressure, heat and time
With patterns set, stones rearranged
With quartz’ flecks out of line
In deepest chambers, nature forged
It streams at any cost
Through captive canyons, nurtured gorge
Dripping, echoed, lost
Locked within their stalag, moor
In amber trapped, a mite
‘tween teeth that push up from the floor,
Stelic, flipped, sharp, tight
With colours mooted in dark folds
Most fools will never see
Patterns aged, bronze, silver, gold
‘midst potholes in the scree
Obstructions most effective, formed
Escher like in frame
A matter of perspective drawn
The angles of the game
It’s all in the prospector’s eye,
a diamond in the rough?
It all depends how hard you try,
is a lump of coal enough?
It factors on the quarry sought,
the gems for which you gleam
Wealth, but laced with worry bought
Pitched health, hemmed in a seam
Cleaved in slate and granite beds
Precipitated dreams
Sedimented round our heads,
A bitter limestone sheen
Veneers waxing, coated slow
To shroud a pure vein
Calling, taxing those who know
For those who tap the same,
tap cautious when refining ore,
careful round life’s juts
Protrusions rarely minor, for
they can leave open cuts
Bleeding patterns in a wreath
Deep, buried in the past
…you’ll never find what lies beneath,
when working open cast