CAVE-IN AT VENTNOR

Posted by Admin on 2 February 2009, 12:00 am

Presumably he knew the risk
of going down, not once but thrice –
inquisitive to learn what time
so long ago had shut from sight
in crumbling depths, some fifty feet
below.
With hope deferred we made our prayers
that yet another miracle
might bring him to the light unharmed.
In vain our orisons – and air
we take for granted was denied
him there entombed, and so, alas,
he died.
But let us not condemn what some
regard as folly; for a man,
to prove his manhood, must at times
attempt alone some venturesome
emprise – and qualities that plumb
a well or lead men to the stars
but differ in degree.