Fun with words …

The Cave

Crepuscular clouds cloak the walls of the cavern
cryptically concealing its crenelated buttresses and
            shrouding time in an uncanny stillness.
Splendiferous stalactites solemnly stand guard as
stealthy salamanders slither to and fro
            splotches of iridescent orange against the twilight.
Pearlescent pods of petrified pine nuts
populate preternaturally pristine pockets in the limestone
            telling the stories of plantations long gone.
Frigid freshets flood the fluted floor at my feet
filling fissures with fragments of florid feldspar and
            numberless flakes of sun-whitened bone.
Limpid lines of lovely lapis lazuli
lend a luminescent luster to the leaden tableau
            crowning an allegedly dreary scene with glory.

Moving meditatively through the melancholic mists I
mark the mesmerizing magnificence of a singular moment
            granted access to a place apart.
Humbly hearkening to the wonders of this hallowed haunt
head and heart happily heeding its distinctive charms
            I bless the cave our erstwhile home.