Figure C24 EARTHWORKS

Eastward next, into a chamber strange,

Filled with what seems a bulky mass of earth.

Only about its edges may we range,

A musty passage, narrow as a firth.

Its sides bear witness to what gave them birth:

Inverse relief of furniture and walls,

Devoured by termites: beasts of little worth

Consume, digest, transfigure wooden halls:

The daintiest of rooms, for them, but fodder stalls.