In The Depths Of Darkness

Behind the bars, in the domain, of the dark and damp  
You might see, the ethereal glow, of the miner's lamp    
But in the listless umbra, there'll be no shadows cast    
For those who are there, are phantoms from the past    
    
Some others, crawled through a hole, to wander round    
Under the sinkholes, in the warren, beneath the ground    
In the crumbling tunnels, they left their marks, in white    
As they scribed, their cartography, by their torch's light    
     
Oft, in eerie silence, they traipsed and had time to mull    
And ponder on their peril, with each dead sheep's skull    
Though they knew the ways, with their homemade map    
The oppressive, cloistered darkness, would always sap    
     
Through the months and years, they still chose to dare    
Each time they crawled out, they would bless, fresh air    
But then the end, was nigh and their map was finished    
So they went in, one last time, but the light diminished    
     
In the depths of darkness, vexed by an opaque malaise    
Did they stumble through tunnels, that became a maze?    
Perhaps they saw a familiar glow, atop of a rocky ramp    
They thought was sunlight, but it was the miner's lamp    
     
Behind the bars, where eroded, fractured roofs cave in    
You might hear a forlorn, distant call, from deep within    
But without torch, or lamp, there'll be no shadows cast    
For those who still wander there, they're of the passed