Figure C19 TRAVERTINE

Toward the south, our vision blocked by steam.

A whiff of sulphur and the sound of drops;

A gust of wind unveils, and, like a dream,

Appears a mighty terrace: from the tops

Of each stepp’d level, trickling water plops

Down to the next, and the droplets bear

Dissolvéd lime, insensibly which stops

To build, atom by atom, a rocky stair

Flowing, liquid, stony, lovely beyond compare.