THE CAVE
Drop by drop
the earth is born,
a billion years
from dark to dawn
Drop by drop
as rivers flow
past sunless cliffs
no wind has known
Where no grass blows
and no birds sing
there time drips slow
and patient, clings
Drop by drop
till waterfalls
are turned to stone
Here new stars form
and mountains rise
clear of the storms
that twist the sky
Drop by drop
while caverns tall
carve crystal bones
What dream lies walled
within this night,
what shape shall crawl
up to the light
Drop by drop
as silence grows
inside its vault
of carbon snow
When glaciers halt
before no zones,
when both the poles
at last are one
Drop by drop
the dawn shall come,
a billion years
from cave to sun