Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79. | | | | India: Carlee (Carli) | | The Caverns of Carli | | Nicholas Michell (1807–1880) |
| | (From Ruins of Many Lands)
SEE! where those caverns yawn on Carli’s steep; | |
| Do spirits call, awaked from ages’ sleep, | |
| That yon lone Hindoo creeps with stealthy tread, | |
| Hies down the hill, nor dares to turn his head? | |
| So old these grots, so silent, and so drear, | 5 |
| E’en Brahmins view them with a solemn fear. | |
| Wild rocks above, a lengthening vale below, | |
| Through which at night the breezes wail like woe; | |
| Huge sculptures, forms of gods e’en strangers grown, | |
| Along the walls a writing now unknown; | 10 |
| The lions on their pillar, calm and still, | |
| Watching for sumless ages on that hill,— | |
| These throw o’er Carli’s shrines an awe and gloom, | |
| Which less befit the temple than the tomb. | | | | |
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