And Midnight, from her lazy wain,

Heard wild winds roar and tides complain,

And groaning woods and shrieking sprites;—

Strange sounds from thence, and fearful lights,

Had caught the sailor’s ear and eye,

As drove his storm-press’d vessel by.

More fearful still, Tradition told

Of that dread cave a story old—

So very old, ages had pass’d

Since he who made had told it last.