Spirit of life, spirit of purity abounds
On crisp and cool October day
Blue grass, lush and soft,
Stands stark against white tombstones
Covers the dead
Lays carpet beneath our feetGolden corn stalks stand tall
To honor us in sunlight
Their dry leaves crackle
Split the silence with each step
Like a still-life gauntlet
Spires appear before us then pass behind.Have we come for adventure
Or to know more about life itself?
As the entrance approaches
Anticipation runs high
Knowing we will pass through it
Into unknown places.Descending into darkness, I writhe and strain
To push this body through an opening so small
In rock unyielding to untold forces
What can yet come from entering the darkness
Again, passing into the unknown
Penetrating the earth's wombWere it not for my comrades I would not go on
For no one would pass this tube alone
Crawling on stomach like an infant
Takes every sinew of man straining
Sweat fills these clothes, adds to the dampness
Carbide flame shows the way.Guardian of deeper caverns
A great pit yawns before us
In darkness it is certain death
Turns back the faint-of-heart in light
Offers but a meager ledge
For passage.The cavern widens, grows taller, and goes on
We move faster now with quick strides
Bent from waist
Neck twisting as far as it can
To light the way an see the future
God knows where are we going and whyRippling to and fro
We pass between parted teeth
Of great mesh gears in solid stone
Carved by persistent waters
In geologic time.
Honeycomb fossils lie undisturbedDown and through Kentucky hole
A new realm comes alive
Water flows this artery
Life blood of the cave
Cold blood that chills these feet
Leads us deeper toward the heartFed by labyrinth of streams
This cavern widens and river grows deeper.
Submerged to the waist, this body
Accepts a chill that penetrates
The essence and fiber of being.
Like the merging of souls, exhilaration abounds.The life that is me is alive within
This cavern that leads us deeper still
This fish of the cave that cannot see our light
This crayfish transparent with organs exposed
These limestone walls that hold us within
That relentlessly draw out our warmth.Turn and approach the unknown
A passage that no one has traveled.
At two miles deep, we extinguish our light and
Receive the cave as it is
Oh alien place cold and damp
You and I are the sameOh welcome light to guide us home
How far we have to go
Through water deep and cold
Through passageways that lead us out
Or leave us dead within
Which passageway can take us home?Home, home, home
How did I ever leave
To enter the cold and dark.
What did I hope to find
That was not already mine
That was not already me?Back up through the stream
Through Kentucky hole
Home draws me forth
In quiet ways. It makes no sound
And gives no light, it draws me forth
And draws me near.Through the cogs of great meshed gears
Walking steep and fast
Crawling through the tube so small
Sliding past the pit
With every step and every breath
Home seems so near an yet so far.Short of strength, short of breath, moving slowing now
This way we came we trust to take us out
Let earth remain at peace for long enough.
For quakes could seal our tomb
Or send us back to darkness deep
In search of other ways.The light is here at last
Comes in streams to bathe this place
To show us heaven and home
How long it's been. How much we've missed
And still it shines the same
To welcome us as if we’d never left.Golden corn stalks stand tall
To honor us in sunlight
Their dry leaves crackle
Split the silence with each step
Like a still-life gauntlet
Spires appear before us then pass behind.On crisp and cool October day
Blue grass, lush and soft,
Stands stark against white tombstones
Covers the dead
Lays carpet beneath our feet
On crisp and cool October day
Spirit of life, spirit of purity abounds.