And water, foul as e'er offended lip,
Fell from the roof with intermittent drip.
Remote from daylight, dismal and unsunned,
Decompositions stored a teeming fund
Of molecules and organisms strange,
In an invisible but constant change.
As stagnant waters generate a froth,
These, with spontaneous and fungous growth,
Had draped the dungeon's limited expanse
With toadstool, bulb and foul protuberance.