For The Sleepers

They are asleep. They will not wake for me,
Who storms and dragons dared, and braved the waves
And chasms, of these waterfall-fed caves,
To reach at last, this calm and silent sea.

I bent before the first, to touch a brow,
Realised she would be woken filled with fear,
In vain struck notes on all the gongs set here;
Then knelt upon the sand, and made a vow:

"So long as I still live, and they still sleep,
I'll join the dragons and the clashing rocks,
Confront with them each challenger who knocks,
And let none past who cannot make me weep."

If I in vain did win my way within,
Then none who's not my equal need begin.

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