The Buried Cathedral

We sat between the stalactites and stalagmites on a dusty ledge overlooking the receding flashlight of the security guard and the echoing murmurs of the departing tourists in a growing gloom mixing with the must settling all around us.

In the silence that followed came a stillness broken by the drip, drip, drip of the liquid limestone falling as it had done for millennia into undulating forms building over time to these magnificent columns and pinnacles that formed this wondrous place.

High in the recesses a faint light emerged revealing other brightening spots where a distant daylight filtered from unseen openings into this buried chamber. As our eyes adjusted to the dimness, some breath of air touched my cheeks, and then a flicker, a streak of black like something in my eye, there it was again. Something lived inside this cave! flitting in and around the mounds and mass of limestone. A distant trickle of water reminded me that ancient life had dwelled here long before my nineteen year old self discovered this mysterious magical space.

We waited and watched and kept very still. I was overcome with the majesty of this unseen world, for the caves had only been discovered less than ten years before and were newly opened to the public. A kind of reverence and wonder I had not known came over me and tears came to my eyes as I considered my innocence and ignorance before this spectacle of the world’s magnificence and timelessness. As I wept I began thinking, forever IS. I was alone in the universe, and was not; my time was part of something so much more immense…the thoughts formed into lines of a poem which began composing in my head. Now. Then. In a time that is, forever IS.

My friend stirred. I had not realized the two hour siesta period was drawing to a close. A generator breaker switch clicked, clicked, clicked. Small patches of coloured lights appeared here and there. The fans began to whir and hum, the cave inhaled fresh air. Soft classical music began to fill the cavernous crevasses and creases, reverberating and awakening the senses to the here and now.

Soon footsteps and ascending voices could be heard coming along the passage. We scurried down to fall in behind them, and made our way toward the sunlight. I felt the mystery and majesty ebbing, so sorry to feel it go. I wanted to keep that moment from fading into the void of the universe. Hold onto that sacred moment for awhile longer. Please.