The Poetry Corner

A Cliff Dwelling

By Robert Lee Frost

There sandy seems the golden sky And golden seems the sandy plain. No habitation meets the eye Unless in the horizon rim, Some halfway up the limestone wall, That spot of black is not a stain Or shadow, but a cavern hole, Where someone used to climb and crawl To rest from his besetting fears. I see the callus on his soul The disappearing last of him And of his race starvation slim, Oh years ago - ten thousand years.